Fire and Rain
by burningSunset
Summary: Harumi is finally back to Japan, but she is no longer the gullible and naive girl she used to be. And when secrets start to come to light, some innocent, others destructive, she will discover who are those who really love her. FujixOCxEiji
1. Reunion

**FIRE AND RAIN**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> This is a sequel to my story "If I Let You Go". Yes, I know that years ago, when I just finished that other fic, I said there wouldn't be a sequel, but after reading the story again recently, I've come to realize that there are some questions still left unanswered. I pondered over them one day on the bus, and then I realized things could have been different... WAY different if I let the story continue. And this is the result of all that thinking I did. I hope you guys will like it! :D And for the new readers, well, you better start with "If I Let You Go" or otherwise you might find yourselves quite lost with some of the references that I make to the prequel. If you don't mind, then by all means read on! :)

**Disclaimer:** The characters from Prince of Tennis don't belong to me, although I really wish some of them did :p. However, all the OC characters are mine and the story is mine. If you want to know the timeline of this story, it occurs some two or three years after the end of the PoT anime.

Some of you also suggested I do a quick run-down of my OC characters from the previous fic because you don't remember them too well. So I will just write a few quick descriptions for each of them here as they were in my LAST fic. Obviously after the time jump of three years, things don't stay the same. We all change, especially when we are growing up :D

_**Harumi:**_ light brown hair, purple eyes. Is spontaneous, oversensitive and doesn't handle shock too well. Was in love with Fuji, but also dated Eiji for a while.

_**Amaya:**_ black long hair, green eyes. Oishi's girlfriend.

_**Chiharu:**_ tall red-head, green eyes, very beautiful, can be cocky sometimes. Dated Atobe.

_**Naoki and Naoko:**_ twin sisters. Both blonde with blue eyes. Naoki is the "planner" of the group, she's very smart and loves to gossip. She didn't date anyone but loves to set people up. Naoko is gentle and shy, and had a huge crush on Tezuka.

_**Mai:**_ light blonde hair, grey eyes. Used to be the captain of the female tennis club back during their Seigaku days. She's severe and stern, very uptight, and can be extremely jealous, especially when Eiji is concerned. She warned Harumi not to get close to Eiji, but Harumi didn't listen to her back in the day.

_**Aika:**_ short, dark brown hair and brown eyes, very proud, can be spiteful and tomboyish. She likes Momo but shows it by hitting him all the time. Needless to say, Momo doesn't like her back.

That's all I believe. And now, onto the long awaited first chapter of this sequel! :D

* * *

><p><strong>Reunion<strong>

Harumi Yamazaki stared outside the oval window of the plane. The surface of it was cool against her forehead as she leaned on it and distractedly contemplated the cumulus clouds looming below her, looking like giant mountains of floating cotton. Her heart was thumping loudly and regularly in her ears, and she found it hard to sit still.

She crossed and uncrossed her legs several times, then forced her fingers to stop tapping on the hand rest.

She nibbled her lower lip and casually put a lock of honey hair behind one ear, revealing a silver earring. The red streaks that she had put in her hair a few weeks ago were already fading to a brownish orange.

The girl at the hair salon had warned her about how quickly red color faded, but she liked red and had insisted on using it anyway. She had thought that she could maintain the color longer if she used the recommended shampoo, but to her disappointment, it hadn't worked. Right about now, she was regretting having wasted her money. She should have known she couldn't trust those products.

Her eyes travelled from the clouds outside to the picture she held in her hand.

It showed her and her long distance boyfriend of the past three years, Fuji Syusuke, sliding down the toboggan at the Winter Carnival three years ago. She caressed his laughing smile with a light touch of her finger.

Fuji had sent her pictures of himself over the years, but this was the only one she had that showed the both of them together. She wondered how it would feel like to see him again in person, and felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement seize her stomach.

She just couldn't wait!

She returned her gaze to the landscape of clouds outside her narrow window, silently marvelling at their giant structure and ethereal mysteriousness. She wondered if they were like cushions. What if she jumped out? Would she land on them? Was there a whole world built up there on the skies above their heads? She shook her head. That was just stupid. Maybe she could write a book about it though. "The City in the Sky" or something like that. After all, fantasy readers would eat it up without questioning it. It was why her short novels dealing with fantasy had done so well back in France. People would do anything to live in fairytales.

_I wonder if he has changed at all._

The thought startled her.

Fuji would pop into her mind at the most random of times, and it had been like this for the past three years.

She had thought about him nearly every day, had replayed their goodbye scene on the school rooftop, had remembered how torn apart she had felt at their imminent separation. It all seemed so far away now, and yet if she closed her eyes, she could still feel his arms wrapped around her body, holding her so tight she could hardly breathe. She had wanted to stay forever with him that way.

She didn't tell him that she was coming; she had wanted it to be a surprise. The only person she had told was Amaya, and she trusted her friend to keep the secret safe.

She'd kept in contact with pretty much all of the members from her ex-tennis club. It was fun to still be kept informed of what was going on in Tokyo, of how her friends from her old life were faring for themselves.

Amaya and Oishi were still as close as ever, and she was thrilled for them. Chiharu and Atobe had broken up last time she had checked, and apparently Chiharu had been very upset and angry over it. Harumi had asked her via email how she was handling it, but Chiharu had just asked her not to mention "the stupid, conceited pig head" anymore.

So she had left it at that.

Aika had gone to America for a project, and Momo couldn't have been more thrilled. In fact, she had heard that he was developing a steady relationship with Ann Tachibana right now, and she was happy for him. Aika was too tomboyish, and she could really drive people nuts. And to top it off, Aika would also get very upset if she didn't get her way. Harumi wondered if she was still like that. Maybe she had grown out of it.

And Eiji…

Her hand tightened on the side of her bag as the image of sad dark blue eyes flashed before her eyes. She touched her forehead to the cool window surface and closed her eyes, and soon enough the image was gone.

While she was coping with fitting in her new environment in France, Eiji had been the second person her mind had wandered to the most, but for completely different reasons. She had asked Amaya and the other girls many times via email for news of the redhead, but her friends had always been very comforting, saying that he was fine, and had told Harumi not to worry.

But not knowing anything substantial about him just made her worry more!

She doubted that he would be fine.

She still remembered how he had looked the day when he had gone over to her house before she had to leave. He looked like he was struggling to get a message across to her, but she had never found out what the message was, because whatever he had wanted to say, something had made him change his mind at the last minute. Instead of speaking up, he had just looked... so defeated.

She cringed inwardly.

All her memories of Eiji were now tainted by that one expression of him. She just couldn't forget. She knew that what was done, was done, but sometimes, she wished she could turn back time.

The plane slowly started its descent down on Tokyo. Harumi inspired deeply, and then tried to smile. All those hardships, heartbreaks, and guilt… at least they weren't for nothing. At least she would see Fuji now, and hopefully everything would have been worth it.

Finally, finally, they could be together!

She quickly brushed her hair and looked at herself on her pocket mirror. She looked tired from the flight, but presentable. She applied a quick layer of lipstick on her dry lips and smacked them together with a little pop.

Yeah, this would do.

After the plane landed, she went to look for her baggage, praying that everything had arrived safely. It was easy to spot the huge blue bag that was turning on the luggage band, beside a giant bunny doll. When she collected them both with a groan, she drew several stunned and amused glances from the other passengers.

"Need a little help, miss?" a guy asked.

Harumi huffed a lock of hair away from her eyes and smiled. "No thank you! I've got it!"

She managed to get her bag and the bunny onto a cart, and then followed the crowd towards check-out. She had just passed through security, and was trying to locate the doors to the exit, when she was suddenly assaulted by a bullet of white, orange and black. The bullet made them both fall on top of her giant bag.

"SOMEONE HELP, I'M BEING ASSAULTED! WHAT THE HELL, GET OFF ME!"

She tried pushing the person (for it was a person) away from her body, but their arms were tightly wrapped around her waist.

"HARUMI, HARUMI, OH MY GOD IT'S REALLY YOU!" A girl's voice shrieked in her ear. But it wasn't just any girl's voice, it was…

"AMAYA!"

Harumi felt her heart rate increase considerably as she suddenly yanked herself away from Amaya to look at her friend's face. Amaya's beaming face was framed by mid long hair, still as black as ever, which cascaded down to her shoulders. Her green eyes were shining so bright that Harumi swore she could use them as flashlights in the dark. She was wearing an orange shirt over a white skirt.

"Amaya, it's you! It's really you!" She screamed back at her friend, the excitement making her voice climb up an octave or two.

"Harumi! You're back! You're finally back! I've missed you so much!" Amaya exclaimed while hugging her friend close to her again.

They were attracting attention to themselves with all their ruckus, but Harumi couldn't care less. It felt so good to finally hug her friend again. She quickly wiped away the few tears of joy gathering at the corners of her eyes.

"I've missed you too Amaya! I'm so glad to see you! You have no idea! I have so much to tell you… god! I love your new haircut, and your top, and… wow, you just look absolutely amazing! And I can't wait to see everyone else! You haven't told anyone right? I want to see the expression on their faces when…

Amaya laughed and shut her up with a slight shake to the shoulders. "You are as talkative as always, Harumi! Calm down, we will have all the time in the world to catch up now! And don't worry, I've definitely not told a soul about your arrival! Well, except for… I mean, there's actually…"

Harumi froze. "What? Someone knows? Amaya, I asked you…"

"Well, I didn't have a choice!" Green eyes looked away guiltily.

"Okay, but that's the only person right? Who is it?" Harumi asked, and then paled. "Uh-oh! Don't tell me it's Fuji!"

Amaya quickly reassured her: "No-no, Fuji is still in the dark."

Harumi let out a huge sigh of relief. "Good! That's all that matters. If it's one of the girls, I guess I can live with it."

Amaya looked uncomfortable. "Actually, it's not one of the girls."

She let go of Harumi and started pacing from one side of the hallway to the other.

_Not one of the girls? Then it's one of the guys? _

People who were walking and minding their own business were forced to stop and go around the pacing girl. Soon, they were yelling at her to stop getting in their way. Harumi sweatdropped and pulled Amaya to a halt.

"Okay, it's fine Amaya! Don't get so worked up. I'm sure you tried your best to keep it a secret. You wouldn't have told anyone on purpose, I know that. So just tell me who it is. I won't mind."

Amaya muttered something under her breath.

"What? I didn't get that. Come on, it's alright. I promise! I mean, is it Oishi? Because I would totally understand! He's your boyfriend and..."

Amaya reluctantly looked into her eyes. "No Harumi. You are going to kill me for this. But it's… Eiji."

Harumi went very silent.

_Oh no! Nononono, she didn't just say what I think she said…!_

"S-stop joking around."

"I'm not! I'm serious!" Amaya carefully looked into her shocked eyes, ready to jump away at the first signs of outburst. Then, the words just poured out of her: "He was there in my house when you made the call Harumi. You know I'm a lousy liar… I couldn't keep it from him… and besides, I blurted out your name on the phone too… so… he knew about it."

Harumi slowly let out the breath she'd been holding and tried to think of the implications. This couldn't be happening!

But it was.

_Okay, calm down. No, I can't calm down. This is a disaster! Eiji of all people… But would that really be a bad thing? He would know eventually anyway. No, no, it is a huge deal. It's awful. I can't do this. I'm going back to France. There's no way I can face Eiji. Wait, but you would have to face him eventually anyway. Stop being a coward. Step forward dammit!_

"Damn it!" She muttered out loud. "Okay…" Her mind worked quickly. "Okay so…"

"And…there's more." Amaya interrupted Harumi, her voice very small. "He's kinda… here today."

_What?_

"Here…?" Harumi asked while her sense of dread suddenly increased tenfold.

Amaya sighed. "Yes, here at the airport. I told him not to come, but he insisted, he… he said he'd drive me since Oishi can't, because he doesn't know I'm coming here, and I still don't have my license, and…"

_Okay. This can't be happening. And if it is, then this is officially the worst day of my life! Maybe it's just a nightmare._

Seeing Harumi's eyes ready to literally bulge out of their sockets, Amaya pleaded: "Look, I'm sorry it turned out this way. I did all I could to hold him back because I know he's not the first person you want to see, but he can be very persistent. I have no idea why he insisted on coming! I mean…after how you two ended things three years ago... - Amaya stopped herself and looked away nervously, then changed subjects – Look, at least I convinced him to stay in the car, so that I could warn you first about him being here. I'm sure he knows as well as we do how awkward this can be."

_Yes! Amaya is right! Why is he here? Why would he want to see me? After all I've done to him…_

Harumi loosened her fists and just stared at the passersby with a vacant look.

"Why did you come, Eiji?" She muttered to herself.

Amaya caught her expression and ran both hands through her hair in desperation. Then she started pacing again. Harumi sighed and stopped her for the second time. She patted her on the shoulder and forced the anxiety out of her voice. "It's alright. He would have found out soon anyway! It doesn't matter."

"A-are you sure?"

Harumi's smile widened and she nodded.

She didn't know why Eiji had come, but maybe it was a good thing. She hadn't heard his voice nor seen his face in three years. And she actually really wanted to see him again, as selfish as it sounded. She had always thought that upon learning of her arrival, he would pack up and go as far away from her as he possibly could. But that was not in his character. Eiji had never run away from anything.

No, he wasn't like her.

With a self-deprecating smile, she started pushing her luggage cart. The two girls walked in silence for awhile before Amaya pulled down nervously on her skirt and then locked arms with Harumi. Trying to alleviate the mood, she cheerful declared:

"I rented a lobby for tonight. Everyone is gathered there because they think it's a party to celebrate the end of high school and getting into their universities of choice. But they don't have a clue what's really waiting for them."

Harumi forced her lips to twist up into an excited smile, although if she could look into a mirror right at that moment, it probably more resembled a grimace. "As it should be! I really can't wait to see everyone!"

"And to see _him_, right?" Amaya said with a wink.

As the glass doors to the airport slid open and the two girls stepped out into the hot afternoon air of Tokyo, Harumi felt her heart skip a beat at the thought of him.

"Yes!"

But first, she had to face Eiji.

Harumi was sweating so much she had to take off the jersey she was wearing. She grabbed her long hair and swung it to one side of her head in order to cool her neck a bit on the other side. She realized that she should attach it in a ponytail, but her hands were full with luggage right now. She wiped her sweaty palm against the side of her jeans – which felt too tight and confining – and forced her legs to move forward.

As a long line of cabs and cars came into view, she breathed in and out, eyes darting around nervously, looking for the red Toyota that Amaya told her Eiji was driving.

When she finally spotted the red car at the end of the line-up behind the cabs, she paused slightly, and then continued.

It was okay, she told herself for the hundredth time. She would have to face him sooner or later.

And sooner was better.

Even though she knew there was a good chance Eiji hated her now, she was still scared to face that fact. She had left Japan before she had had a chance to make things right between them – if things really could be made right again – but she should have at least tried harder.

Eiji deserved that much. He used to be the guy that she went to every time she had a problem; he had been someone who understood her, and who had been there for her to comfort her and to make her enjoy life again when she was at her lowest. And on the day he went to see her, she should have done more and reacted more to his feelings, but as usual, all her thoughts had been so selfishly focused on her own despair, and on how to tell Fuji that she was leaving, that she had been numbed.

She remembered feeling empty as her aunt let Eiji into her room, which she had already devastated by throwing pretty much all her belongings to the floor. She still remembered the way her things laid shattered in bits and pieces, like the vestiges of her own life.

_**Flashback**_

They stood in her room, Eiji and her, facing each other silently for a few minutes, until Harumi realized distantly that there was a look of determination in his dark eyes, like he was about to say or ask something. He opened his mouth, but before the words could come out, he rested his eyes on her face once more, and a look of sad consternation took over his features, making the words stop. Harumi had never seen him look so sad and confused before, and she was surprised at the way her heart burned.

And then it hit her.

The implication of what she had done hit her for real. She had been with another guy while she was dating him. They hadn't even broken up properly, and she was already running into the arms of Fuji every chance she got.

She felt like she could die. For a split second, she regretted everything. Even if that other guy was Fuji, she shouldn't have done what she did. She shouldn't have hurt Eiji. She shouldn't have put that look on his face.

She found herself reaching out a little to him, maybe to hug him, or to make it better for him in some way, but she just never completed the move. Because it was too late. Everything was over. The way Eiji was looking at her told her that he knew it too.

Eiji rubbed the back of his neck tiredly and simply said : "I'm so sorry."

Harumi could have handled anything, but an apology she could not. Because he had nothing to apologize for. She was the one who should have said those words.

"No!" she stammered. "Don't say that! Just… please…"

She bit her lip and took in a sharp breath. What the hell was she begging for? For him to take back his apology? For him to forgive _her_?

But she never found out what she wanted because Eiji was now _smiling_ at her of all things. A forced smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I'm letting you go, Harumi." He said quietly.

Harumi shook her head, tears suddenly overflowing.

"No…" she chocked.

Eiji walked up to her, so close she could smell the scent of the shampoo he had used. For a split second, she thought he was going to hug her. He was just so close. But he simply put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed a little.

"Take care." Were the two last words whispered in her ear before he walked out of her room and out of her life.

"No…" she repeated again, her hand tightening around her skirt.

Too late.

And she didn't even get to say "I'm sorry".

_**End of flashback**_

She shook her head to get rid of the memory. The memory of her parent's death was the worst memory she had, but that day with Eiji was a pretty damn close second.

After that, Eiji hadn't contacted her at all during those three years, and she hadn't contacted him either. She didn't know how the redhead would react upon seeing her now, but no matter what his demeanor was, she would accept it. And if he let her, she would apologize to him properly, not hoping to be forgiven, but just to be at peace that she had at least tried.

She suddenly spotted him leaning against the driver side of the car, with his hands in the front pockets of his shorts, his red hair shorter and less curly than she remembered. Her heart started pounding. In three years, he seemed to have grown even taller than before.

Suddenly it was very hard to breathe. He wasn't looking in their direction, but he must have been looking at their reflection from the glass windows of the airport wall, for as they approached, he slowly turned to face them.

His eyes were hidden behind round sunglasses.

Harumi halted, and Amaya squeezed her arm reassuringly. Eiji just stared at them, at her, for the longest time, it seemed, and Harumi desperately tried to read his face, but found herself unable to because of his sunglasses. She wiped her hands against the side of her jeans nervously one more time.

She recognized the familiar aspects of him, the tall and slender build of his body, the color of his hair; and yet the grown man standing in front of her was a stranger. Suddenly, Eiji made a movement as if to go to her, and that made her heart speed up.

"Eiji?" His name dropped out of her mouth before she could help herself, and she hated the small tone of her voice.

Eiji stopped. "Hey, Harumi!" His voice also sounded more mature, but it was also unmistakably Eiji's. However, just like his face, his voice didn't hold any particular intonation.

She cleared her throat. "It's… it's good to see you! How have you been?" She grimaced at how awkwardly those words had come out.

"Oh you know, same old, same old. Still playing tennis, and high school was not quite what I expected." He stopped and scratched his head. "How was France?"

"Oh, good! It was good. A lot of things to get used to, but eventually everything settled down."

Harumi held her breath. Great, this was as uncomfortable as it could get.

Eiji pulled on his shirt and turned to look at the afternoon sun glaring at them from above. "It's really hot in here. Let's get going! There's AC in the car."

"Yeah, okay." Harumi agreed, feeling slightly relieved when he stopped looking at her up front.

Amaya, who was silent during the exchange, finally spoke up: "Wow, you finally got the AC fixed, Eiji! It hasn't worked in weeks!"

"Well, it's not my fault the mechanic was out of the town on an early vacation." The redhead answered.

"Honestly, you could have just gone to anyone else, why does it have to be him?"

"Because he's my friend and I always go to him! And besides, it wasn't this hot awhile ago, so I didn't need the AC."

Amaya huffed. "You didn't need it? AC should be needed at all times."

As they chatted back and forth, Eiji unlocked the doors and went to help Harumi load her huge bag in the back trunk. When it didn't fit, Eiji bit his lip. "You still have this thing?"

Harumi blushed and managed to say: "Of course! I've had it for years! It's my personal travelling companion."

"And weapon." Amaya interceded with one arched brow.

"Come on Amaya, I know I knocked Echizen KO with it once, but that's it! And it was an accident." Harumi replied defensively.

"From which he never recovered – Amaya declared dramatically – he's been acting strange ever since, and now he's like a little tennis machine, going around all over the world kicking other players' asses. It's all your fault Momo has been complaining day in and day out about missing his friend."

Harumi rolled her eyes but couldn't help smiling. She was glad that Amaya was trying to lighten the mood, and she was also happy that Echizen was doing so well. In fact, she did remember seeing him on TV when he went to the French Open a few months ago. "So it's my fault that he's the most successful player of his generation? Alright, I guess I can live with that."

In the meantime, Eiji had managed to make her bag fit into the back seat instead. "Sorry, you will have to squeeze in with your bag." He told Harumi.

"That's okay, I will manage."

They all got into the car and Eiji pulled away from the parking lane. In the back seat, Harumi sat on top of one of the corners of her bag, praying that her butt wasn't crushing anything too important. She looked into the rear view mirror and saw Eiji staring at her from behind his sunglasses. She quickly dropped her eyes to her lap, but after a few minutes, she looked up again and stared at him from the mirror. She couldn't help it. She hadn't seen him in so long. She suddenly noticed that the band-aid that was usually on his cheek was nowhere to be seen now.

Slowly, she wiped the transpiration off her brow with her handkerchief and stared outside at the other cars rolling past by on the highway. Soon, the AC kicked in and her shoulders slumped a little in relief. She hadn't noticed how tense she had been. She looked at Eiji again and wished that he had at least smiled at her once.

On the way from the airport over to Amaya's house, where Harumi would be staying for the time being, they stopped at a flower shop where Harumi got one bouquet of lilacs, and another one of white roses.

"I'm really sorry about the detour, guys, but I just really want to see them…" Harumi said while looking outside the window.

Amaya turned around and smiled. "Don't worry about it. I totally understand. You must have missed them."

Harumi nodded softly, eyes never leaving the road.

A few minutes later, Eiji pulled in next to the local cemetery. He stopped the engine and stepped out of the car, followed by the two girls. Amaya looked around. She had never felt too comfortable in a cemetery. "Do you want me to come with you, Harumi?"

"Eh?" Harumi seemed to snap out from a reverie, and then she slowly nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that!"

As they started walking, Harumi realized that Eiji wasn't coming. When she turned around and looked at him uncertainly, he simply said. "I will watch the car. Take your time."

"What? Oh come on, Ei…"Before Amaya could protest any further, Harumi grabbed her by the arm and smiled sadly. "It's okay. Let's go."

However, as she slowly made her way among the neatly erected stones, she could feel her heart sinking. She knew she deserved every single bit of coldness from the guy who used to be one of her best friends, but it still hurt.

When she finally arrived in front of the tombs of her parents, she stood there for awhile, just looking at their names carved in the grey stone. Amaya looked around, and then settled into a respectful silence.

Harumi put down the lit incense in the middle of the two graves, and knelt down. She closed her eyes and just breathed. After a few moments, she licked her lips and spoke up quietly. "Mom, Dad! I'm finally back."

"I've been doing great. France is a great country, and Toulouse is a very nice city. I've made some friends over there. My brother Katsuo is doing well also. Actually, more than well. He finally found himself a girlfriend, that little jackass! And the awesomeness doesn't stop there for them, because last time I checked, he was even thinking of proposing to her! I'm so glad that Katsuo let her in. He was going through a lot of issues when we first got there, but she made him smile again when no one else could, and for that, I'm eternally grateful. Her name is Elodie, and she's going to the same college as him. That's how they met each other. I get along great with her too. She helped me and my brother with our French, and helped us fit in at school. And she's also very, very pretty. To be honest, I didn't know oniichan had it in him to catch the eye of a girl like her, but yeah… he's definitely proven me wrong. After everything that's happened though, he really deserves all the happiness he can get. Auntie took really good care of us too. She's so considerate, and she's like a second Mom to us now. Of course, you will always number one, Mom, but your sis is pretty cool herself."

She laughed a little. "So anyway, I'm back to Japan now, because I miss you guys. I really really do, every second of every day, I wonder what my life would be like if you guys were still here with me. But then I realize that I'm still very lucky, because when I came back, the first person I saw was my best friend Amaya. She hasn't forgotten about me, and I really feel like it's only been yesterday that we were eating lunch together at the school cafeteria, talking about boys along with all my other friends. You have never met them, but they are all very dear to my heart, and I came back here for them too. Among those special people here in Japan, there is one person who I know will make me very happy and make me feel loved. I wish I could introduce him to you. His name is Fuji Syusuke, and… I'm… kinda… well, we've been dating. Well not really dating for the past three years though, but we still kept in touch. Anyway, it's all a very long story."

Her eyes fluttered open and she blushed a little. In a rushed voice, she continued: "So don't worry about me anymore. I will be happy, and I will do my best to make you guys proud!"

She deposited the bouquet of lilacs in front of her mom's grave, and the bouquet of white roses in front of her Dad's. "I love you Mom. I love you Dad. I miss you both so much."

She then held her hands together in prayer and closed her eyes again. After a minute of silence, Harumi sighed and blinked back the tears that were threatening to flow over. After making sure her emotions were in check, she slowly rose to her feet and turned around to face her friend. Amaya's eyes were wet but she smiled a soft and encouraging smile, and stepped in to hug her tight without a word. Harumi hugged her back, and then pulled away, grinning.

"Wow, that felt good! Even if they are not here anymore, I felt like… they were here listening to me!"

"I'm sure they were, and I'm sure they are already proud of you, Harumi. I know I am. I honestly don't know what I'd do if I suddenly lost my parents and then had to move to a country I know nothing about, while leaving everyone else behind. And yet you did it, and you didn't let it break you."

"It wasn't easy at all, but I was lucky I had my Aunt and my brother there with me, you know? We all helped each other get through it."

Amaya nodded. "Yes. If you ever need to talk about anything, Harumi, know that I'm here for you."

"I know. And I'm here for you too, if you ever need me." Harumi smiled at her friend. "Come on, let's go now. I don't want to make Eiji wait."

While they were walking back to the car, Amaya knocked her elbow against her side playfully. "So it was too hard to admit to your parentsthat you're in love with Fuji?"

She giggled at Harumi's shocked expression. "We've been dating", what kind of lame statement is that?"

Harumi nearly choked on her own saliva. "Excuse me, that is NOT lame. It's the truth, isn't it?"

"Yeah yeah, but I definitely thought you'd say in a singsong voice that you are in love with him."

Harumi groaned and elbowed Amaya back. "I'm not like Oishi and you, being all mushy all the time. I'll tell them next time, if that makes you happy."

Amaya stopped short. "Oishi and I are NOT mushy."

"Yeah, right." Harumi made a gagging sound, and then sprinted away, laughing, when Amaya sprang forward to chase after her with a consternated look.

After they got back to the car, Eiji dropped them both at Amaya's house, and then drove off to the party by himself. Harumi was relieved when he finally left. He never expressed anger or rudeness towards her, but he was so far from the joyous boy she used to know!

And to top it off, he had kept his sunglasses on the entire time, so that she hadn't been able to look into his eyes and see what he really thought of her presence here.

_Seriously, he could have at least looked at me in the eye for a second. Just one second. But all I got were those stupid smoked glasses. If he's turning into Inui I will officially die._

She chased thoughts of him out of her head. Feeling guilty was useless. And besides, she wanted to be ready to finally be reunited with Fuji. She had been waiting to see him for three years, and three years was a long time.

Too long.

Her movements were rushed and erratic as she took a quick shower, thoroughly massaging her hair with the new shampoo she had bought, and then rummaged inside her luggage until she found the little red summer dress she had bought in France for the occasion.

She blow dried her hair, and then brushed it carefully. Her hair was inclined to stick out in all directions after a shower, so she carefully put some product to tame the rebellious strands. Then, she put on some pink eye shadow and some light lipstick. Yeah, she looked way better now. She grinned at herself in the mirror and saw her own purple eyes twinkle back at her with impatient mirth. She was more than ready.

"You're going for the kill, girl!" Harumi caught Amaya's amused eyes in the mirror, and smiled shyly.

"I'm kinda nervous though."

"What? Why would you be nervous? It's just Fuji! And he will be SO dead when he sees you!"

Harumi giggled. "I can't have that, can I? He owes me some life and essence after 3 years of being separated."

Amaya turned around, making her own white skirt twirl. "C'mon then! Let's go get you reunited with your "life and essence"!" She mimicked quotation marks with her fingers as she walked away. Harumi considered throwing her hair brush at Amaya's retreating back, and then actually carried through with that action.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure I look good? Like… like, he won't be repulsed by me? Like… it won't be a disappointment after three years of only seeing me via a webcam, right?"<p>

Amaya rolled her eyes so much that she swore she could almost see her own brain. Harumi's concerns could have been endearing if she hadn't been whining like that during the entire trip from Amaya's house to the party lobby.

Feeling her smile crack, Amaya irritably passed a hand through her black hair. "You look gorgeous Harumi. Stop worrying. You will rekindle his flame so bad that he might be speechless for a week. Not that that would be a bad thing. Then he'd finally stop nagging me about lending him my Dad's high resolution camera."

Harumi grinned stupidly. "Okay!"

So Amaya turned the knob and pushed the door open.

There was a large rectangular table in the middle of the room, and to the side there was a huge TV screen with a karaoke machine wired up to it. There was already food and drinks on the table, and people were talking animatedly amongst themselves.

With wide eyes, Harumi saw Takasan rearrange the stack of sushi at one side of the table, while talking to… Naoki? Her long blonde hair was now slightly curly, but her blue eyes were still as mischievous and alert as usual. Her twin sister Naoko was talking with Chiharu and Oishi, all three seated by the table with drinks in their hands.

Harumi's eyes lingered on Chiharu for a long moment. She had always been the prettiest of all her friends, but now she was even more magnificent. In three years, she had grown some curves, and her fiery red hair was attached in a half ponytail. Her green eyes sparkled mysteriously under the lights, and her features were still as perfect as she remembered, but with an added touch of finesse and maturity to them.

Momo was asleep on the couch near the door. His hair was no longer gelled up, but falling a little over his eyes as he drooled on his Beatles tshirt.

Mai, the captain of her tennis club back in junior high, was standing at the back of the room, talking to Eiji. The Mai that Harumi remembered was a serious looking girl who was always scolding everyone and making people follow the rules; but now, as she talked with Eiji, her grey eyes looked alive and she was smiling. Her strawberry blonde hair was held up in a bun. She was quite petite, only reaching Eiji's shoulders.

Eiji was standing in front of Mai with his back to her, but when he turned sideways a little, she could see that he was smiling as he listened to Mai. Harumi chewed on her lip. Of course, she should have known it. He was only cold to her.

_Still, could he make it a little less blatant?_

Harumi didn't have time to look at anyone else before Amaya pushed her back behind the cover of the door and then stepped into the room. Oishi noticed her in the doorframe, and waved. "Hey, where have you been? Eiji said you were going to drop by your house first, but that was two hours ago already."

"Don't you see, Oishi? She had to get ready!" Harumi heard Chiharu say.

"Girls." Kaidoh mumbled.

"Stop saying that! That's the reason you're still single, Kai-chan," Naoki chirped up.

Kaidoh hissed. "Do NOT call me by that stupid nickname! How many times did I tell you? And it's not like you are going out with someone either, so stop talking."

Naoki hmphed and glared at him.

"Eh? What's going on?" Momo yawned while sitting up.

"Okay, calm down guys!" Amaya yelled. "I have a good reason to be late actually. Because I've got a huge surprise for all of you. It's in fact the reason for this little get together, actually." Amaya couldn't ban the excitement from her voice.

Naoko crossed her arms. "What? Aren't we here to celebrate the beginning of summer?"

"On the surface." Amaya winked, and then turned around. Her green eyes bore into Harumi's and she excitedly beckoned to her to step forward.

Harumi gulped. This was the big moment she had been waiting for. It was just her friends on the other side of the door, but still, she felt incredibly nervous.

She went around Amaya and stepped into the room.

There was the hugest silence ever, and everyone just stared at her with their mouths open like she was a ghost. While everyone was too busy mimicking a fish out of the water, Harumi's eyes darted from one familiar face to another, looking for the one person she wanted to see the most.

Her eyes glided over Eiji's face and for a second, she looked into his familiar dark blue eyes that stared back at her with no decipherable expression, before her full attention was claimed by someone standing behind Eiji, in the farthest corner of the room, beside Tezuka. Fuji's blue eyes were staring right at her, seemingly straight into her soul.

_Oh God. Oh God. Ooooh God._

She had forgotten how piercing his eyes could be. Her hands started shaking and she had to clench them tight.

There was an expression of almost shock on his face. Harumi quickly took in his appearance. He was still slender, and had grown a couple of inches. His hair was shorter, but his bangs still fell on his eyes a little. He was wearing a tight white shirt, which outlined the muscles in his arms and chest.

But his gorgeous blue eyes were just as she remembered them to be, and they still knocked her breath away.

"H-Harumi?" Someone asked in a voice that sounded distant to her ears.

She could hear people getting excited, shouting out her name in joyous disbelief, could see them standing up abruptly, coming towards her with huge grins on their faces. But her eyes were still fixed upon his, and she witnessed his expression of shock melt down into the broadest smile she'd ever seen on his face.

And suddenly she was moving forward, and he was moving forward too. And a second later she was colliding against his body as she was enveloped in the embrace she had been craving for so long.

"Fuji!" She whispered as she clung to his neck and closed her eyes as the scent of his cologne washed over her senses. Fuji wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her closer until their entire bodies were pressed together. His hand ran up and down her back, as if to make sure she was real.

"Harumi." He whispered in her ear and she felt a shiver travel down her back as she heard her name spoken so softly in his familiar voice. His body seemed to be on fire as he embraced her. Or maybe it was her own body which was burning up, she didn't know.

She had missed him so much. She didn't know it was possible to miss another human being like this, but as she pressed her face against his chest and curled her fingers around the fabric of his shirt, she felt as though she was finally home.

Suddenly, she let out a little scream when she felt her feet leaving the ground. She tightened her hold around his neck as Fuji swept her off the ground and twirled her a little in the air. She laughed delightedly and held him closer. When he put her down, she finally looked around into the happy faces of all her old friends smiling at them and cheering for them and whistling loudly.

"I'm back, guys!" she said in a voice full of emotion.

From the opposite side of the room, Eiji looked at the reunited couple and gave a somewhat courteous smile. "I love happy endings!" he stated in a cheerful voice.

Mai looked up at him seriously. "Me too. They look great together," she answered, emphasizing on every word.

There was another boy standing beside Eiji and Mai, but he was eyeing the whole scene with boredom. Upon hearing Eiji and Mai's exchange, he huffed. "Tssk, you guys are funny. There's no such thing as happy endings, because there's no such thing as fairytales. Mr and Mrs I'm-so-in-love will find out soon enough."

He took a sip of his drink and licked his lips.

Mai sighed and swatted him on the arm. "Don't say things like that, Kirihara."

Cunning green eyes turned towards her as he smiled mischievously. "What. Are you scared I'm gonna jinx it?"

Mai glared at him sternly. "I'll make sure you won't."

Kirihara only smirked.

* * *

><p>So? How do you like it? :)<p> 


	2. Going back to that old life

**Going back to that old life**

Harumi was sitting curled up on the couch, smiling, trying to concentrate on the conversation, all the while VERY aware of the warmth of Fuji's body cutting across the tissue of his shirt. They were sitting close together with their arms brushing against each others' while all around her, a large group of people were looking at her, marvelling at the reality of her presence among them and asking her questions. Occasionally, people would reach out to touch her on the shoulder, on the arm, or would grab her hand; but all she could feel was his gentle gaze on her face. She quickly shook her head to get rid of the all the too familiar numbness seizing her.

"Harumi! I can't believe it's really you! I've missed you so much!"

"How was France? Are you like an expert in French now? Because I'm taking a French class in university and with your help I think I could ace it now! Woo-hoo!"

"Of course she is fluent in French now, baka! Neh neh Harumi, I heard you were a writer back there! I tried to order one of your books, but the shipping and everything was too expensive. And I'm broke right now, so I can't afford it, but I know it's doing great in France, and I'm so proud of you!"

"Yeah, you're like our own famous person right now! Well, Chiharu isn't doing too bad for herself either, but you have more recognition, you sure do!"

"Thanks for remembering me, Momo." Chiharu replied with a good natured smile, before standing up and hitting him on the head. "But I have enough recognition too, thank you very much!"

"Ita!"

Harumi was looking from one to the other, grinning widely, and tried to answer everyone's questions. Chiharu actually stood out to her the most. Harumi had already noticed how much prettier the other girl had become, but now that she could see her from up close, she couldn't help but to stare and marvel at her red hair hanging loosely at her hips, slightly more wavy than before; her green eyes stood out thanks to a thin layer of eyeliner delineating their contour; and the black dress she wore enhanced her womanly curves. She had grown much taller also. She was just the most perfect woman Harumi had ever seen. She remembered how she would be slightly jealous of Chiharu back in junior high, but she had accepted the fact that she would never catch up to her. And after three years, she was proven right. Chiharu could be mistaken for a pop star right now.

She tore her gaze away from her, and locked eyes with Mai, standing slightly in retreat. Eiji and that other boy weren't by her side anymore. Harumi smiled tentatively to her ex buchou, and to her surprise, Mai smiled back and even gave her a small wave. The cold and responsible mask she used to always wear had softened a little, giving her face an almost childish look.

All the guys had grown taller, and Kaidoh had forsaken his trademark bandana for a head band. As the questions and comments continued to fuse from all parts, she raised a hand and tried to calm them down a little bit.

"Yeah guys, um… you will have to slow down with the questions. I will get to them all if you speak one at a time. But before that, can I just say wow? You all changed so much!"

"For the better I hope." Momo chimed in.

"For some people." Harumi joked sheepishly.

"It's true! Kaidoh actually managed to get uglier. I didn't think it was possible but…" Momo started.

Kaidoh knocked down his chair when he stood up too abruptly. "Momoshiro, do you have a death wish?"

Chiharu sighed and tried to steer the conversation back in the right direction. "Well, it's been three years! That's a long time. And you've changed too, Harumi."

Harumi blushed at the appreciative look in Chiharu's eyes. "Really?"

Chiharu simply winked.

"But we did send you pictures over the years." Naoki said while pressing a drink into her hands.

Harumi accepted it with a thanks, and then took a small sip. It was Ponta, and it tasted great. "Wow, I missed Ponta so much! There isn't any in France. And Naoki, the last picture you sent me was from six months ago when you still had straight hair! I almost didn't recognize you today! When did you curl your hair?"

Naoki ran a hand through her slightly curly locks and smiled. "Yeah, I wanted to change my look. Besides, people are always complaining that they still can't differentiate me from my sister, so I thought it was time to do something about it."

Naoko elbowed her shyly. "Well, I changed my hair before you changed yours. I cut it shorter, see? So you really didn't need to do that."

"Nah, I've always wanted to try having curly hair."

Naoko now had short blonde hair. It came down in layers, enveloping her neck, with the back part longer than the front part. "Why did you cut your hair, Naoko?" Harumi inquired.

Naoko scratched her neck shyly. "Oh, I suppose they haven't told you yet. Well, it's just easier to handle since I'm… actually figure skating now. I'm only back here until the end of the month because my trainer was really nice and allowed me a break, but I will have to go back to Osaka pretty soon. Even in the summer, I have to train. Everyone else is just so much better than me because they have been doing this since they were little, but me it was only recently that I started practicing."

Harumi was a little surprised. "Well, what about tennis?"

Naoko smiled.

"I still like it. And I still play it over there when I can, but I want to make a career out of figure skating. And I'm not too bad at it either. I won bronze at the last tournament." She declared proudly while her cheeks flushed a slight shade of pink. Momo jumped on her and gave her an accolade. "Yeah, who knew little Naoko had it in her? We are all so proud of our little sister here." Naoko pushed him away, blushing. "Thanks Momo."

Harumi smiled and turned back to look at Fuji, who was quietly following the conversation. He had been pretty quiet, not assaulting her with questions like the others did. Fuji's eyes locked on hers and he smiled happily at her, his blue eyes as electric as always, and bumped his knee against hers. Harumi felt her face flush a little. "So Fuji! – she quickly asked - how have you been? Don't you have some earth shattering events that have happened to you in the last three years that I should know about?"

Fuji shrugged. "Well, I've been keeping you pretty up to date with my life via the emails. But if you really want to know all the details…" He appraised her with a smirk. "I guess I can make that happen for you. But we have all the time in the world now, right?"

Harumi arched an eyebrow. "Right… And I know that look, Fuji Syusuke! What are you planning?"

Surprise invaded his features. "I'm not planning anything."

"Mmhmm"

Before she could pursue her investigation of Fuji's plans, she was interrupted by a very loud Takasan. "Hey guys! We should really celebrate in honor of our friend coming back to us! Whatcha say?" He was harbouring a huge grin and was holding a case of beer in his arms.

Everyone cheered. Amaya took some drinks, distributed them around, and then sat on Oishi's lap. They exchanged a quick kiss that didn't go by unnoticed by Inui, who smirked and used their moment of inattention to slip a dubious looking blue substance in their beer.

Unfortunately for him, Naoki noticed his manoeuvres. "Oy Inui!" She called out from the couch, where she was curled up lazily like a cat.

Inui turned to look at her, and paled considerably at the glare in her eyes. "Yes?"

"I'm thinking you should exchange your drink with Oishi and Amaya."

Inui pushed up his glasses with a trembling finger. "W-why should I do that?"

"Because… - she smiled innocently – see? it's what we do at parties! To express our friendship to each other, we should all exchange our drinks now with the person closest to us! And well, since I know you can hold your alcohol, you should exchange yours with those of two other people instead of just one. Neh?"

"That's a brilliant idea!" The boy who was initially talking with Eiji said. He turned to Chiharu and then swiped his glass with hers, ignoring her "hey" of protest. Harumi eyed him quickly. He had unruly black curly hair, and his green eyes were filled with intelligence.

"Hey, who's that?" She whispered to Fuji.

Fuji looked in the direction she was pointing at and she saw the beginning of a frown appear on his forehead. "Oh, that's Kirihara Akaya."

_Kirihara… Kirihara… why does this name sound familiar?_

And then she suddenly remembered.

Her eyes widened slightly in disbelief as she watched him take a sip of drink, his Adam's apple moving up and down, while Chiharu glared darkly at him. If she recalled correctly, he was the guy Naoki had mentioned in one of her emails. Kirihara was one of Fuji's opponents, and Naoki had sounded really angry in her email as she complained about his dirty tricks and how he had injured Fuji badly. Harumi had pressed Fuji to tell her more about it, but Fuji had always insisted it was no big deal, and that he was able to win against him anyway.

She was thus surprised to see him here. She remembered Kirihara talking to Eiji and Mai when she had first come. Was he a friend of theirs? But how could he be their friend when he had been so mean to Fuji? And then she realized. Eiji and Fuji were probably not talking anymore, and they probably had different circles of friends. But still, befriending Kirihara…

Fuji caught her confused expression. "Harumi, don't worry. That match was a long time ago, and Kirihara is not as bad off courts."

Harumi stared at him sternly with a look of disbelief on her face. "So you guys just go to the same parties and stuff but never talk?"

Fuji's eyes closed. "Well, something like that. It's not like we are enemies either."

She eyed Eiji, who was picking at his food.

_Have you been acting the same way with Eiji? Do you guys also go the same parties but never talk to each other anymore? Because you are not enemies, but neither are you friends. And yet you were so close to him before. _

"What is it?" Fuji asked when he caught her watching him with deep purple eyes.

"No, nothing."

_I just wish I could turn back time and never have agreed to go out with Eiji. I just wish we can all go back to being friends._

And a deep part of her whispered: _Really? You were truly happy with Eiji. Do you really regret sharing all those memories with him? _

Her heart felt heavy in her chest at those conflicting thoughts.

In the meantime, the other people had quickly exchanged their glasses as well. Inui, however, looked frozen on the spot with both Amaya and Oishi's drinks in each of his hands. "What's the matter, Inui?" Naoki asked expectantly. "Come on big boy, bottom's up!"

"Daijoubu… I'm sure this juice is a success." Inui muttered as he drew in a quick breath and gulped down the contents of one glass. He paled immediately, and then turned blue and wobbled on his feet. Naoki kicked a chair in his direction at the same time as he collapsed on it, his glasses askew on his face.

"It was… another failure…" He croaked before passing out.

No one paid him a second glance as Naoki was laughing loudly on the couch. It seemed like a common occurrence. Some things just never changed. Naoki stood up and nonchalantly poured the rest of Inui's suspicious concoction inside the nearest plant pot.

"I think you just killed the poor plant." Kaidoh glared.

Naoki turned around. "What, you'd rather drink it?"

Kaidoh shrugged. "Maybe Fuji sempai could."

They both eyed the tensai, who was conversing with Harumi. Naoki laughed. "He seems a little busy right now catching up with his long time no see girlfriend though."

Kaidoh rolled his eyes. "It's still no excuse to feed that… thing… to the plant."

And in fact, the plant's leaves now looked unmistakably yellower.

Naoki was already at the table, picking up a cookie to eat. "You should work for Greenpeace, Kai-chan!" She then turned her back to him, swallowing, and pointedly ignored his "If you call me that again, I'll kill you! Fshhh!"

Harumi drank a little from Fuji's glass and then smiled. "Well, cheers to you!"

"Cheers to us." He said before gently holding her hand. Caught slightly by surprise, she hesitated a moment, but then surrendered to the feeling of his warm hand around hers.

Purple eyes looked into blue ones. Harumi put down her drink on the table and Fuji mirrored her action. "I missed you so much." She whispered.

"Come here." Fuji whispered back while pulling her towards him. Harumi closed her eyes and allowed herself to be enveloped in his strong arms. She passed her own arms around his waist and clang to his back. The scent of his cologne washed over her gently and she breathed in deeply, her face buried in the crook of his shoulder. And suddenly there was no more party, just the two of them clinging to each other. Harumi could stay like this forever.

She could feel Fuji's chest moving up and down with each breath he took, and she was comforted by that sensation.

_I'm so happy, Fuji. This is what I've always wanted. You are finally mine, and I'm not going anywhere anymore. We can be happy together now._

She changed the position of her head a little and peaked from above his shoulder. And suddenly, it was like her ears had been unplugged as the external world reappeared all around her once more. She heard the loud voices of people talking animatedly, their laughter, and Momo's voice singing a karaoke song in the back. She turned her head and saw Eiji, Mai and Kirihara talking by the table.

She was slightly startled when Kirihara suddenly turned his attention to her and smirked a little. Feeling uncomfortable, she buried her face in Fuji's shoulder once more.

"How about we take a little stroll outside? It should be a wonderful evening." She heard Fuji whisper.

That plan had been on her mind as well, so she readily accepted. Laughing, they discreetly sneaked out of the lobby and into the street.

The city lights welcomed them as a warm evening breeze blew over them. Harumi and Fuji walked down the familiar street. Harumi was looking around, at the night lights, and the buildings, and the stores, now closed. A lot of young people were still out at this hour, chatting and laughing in groups of four or more. It was an animated part of the city. As she slowly wandered down the sidewalk, all the good times and the bad times she'd had before came rushing back to her. It was as if she had never left.

Fuji suddenly stopped and, stepping in front of her, grabbed her gently by the shoulders, shaking her out of her reverie. His eyes gently held hers, looking especially bright under the neon lights. A corner of his mouth lifted up in a small smile. "I haven't told you this yet, but you've grown into such a beautiful girl, Harumi. The pictures you sent me didn't render you justice."

Harumi felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks, and she quickly hid it by looking away. "W-what do you mean? That I wasn't pretty before?" She pouted.

Fuji's eyes widened. "No, not at all. I just meant… ano…"

Harumi looked up to see him looking contrite, and couldn't help laughing. "I'm kidding!"

She twirled a strand of her hair absent mindedly and looked away. "Besides, you're the one talking! You are even hotter than before, and that's saying a lot."

Fuji was amused. "Oh really? So I'm "hot" eh? I don't recall you ever telling me this before."

"Ehhh? Are you serious?" Harumi quirked up an eyebrow. "That can't be! I'm sure you just don't remember."

"Trust me, I'd remember something like that."

They had resumed walking and had reached a park, which was now deserted at this late hour.

Harumi stopped walking and pouted while seeing his increasing amusement. "Well, I was thinking it often enough! And now I just said it… so happy?"

Fuji paused, and drew her closer to him with a hand on her slender waist. Slowly he leaned down towards her until their faces were merely inches apart. Harumi felt the air getting caught in her throat.

_He's going to kiss me…oh my god!_

Fuji's breath was hot on her skin as he whispered "very happy", before gently pressing his lips on hers. Harumi's eyes widened as she felt the gentle pressure. Their last kiss was from so long ago that she had almost forgotten it felt like this. There was something foreign and exotic about the whole thing now. Her heart was pounding so much she thought it would burst anytime.

Fuji's hands on her shoulders suddenly felt heavy as she stumbled forward, but Fuji caught her and only drew her closer. Then, his hand was in her hair as he slightly bent her head and deepened the kiss. Harumi thought she was going to die; she couldn't breathe and couldn't move. It felt so all encompassing.

She pulled back, panting, eyes a little wild as she stared up into Fuji's blue pupils blazing under the moonlight. She could see that he was concerned; she had probably stepped back a little too abruptly. Was his kiss so intense before? Maybe it was because it had been too long and she had grown shy with him? But the fact was that when he had deepened the kiss, she hadn't been ready.

"Sorry." She whispered. "I think I'm…"

_You stupid girl! You stupid, stupid, clumsy girl! How can you mess up your reunion kiss? Kill me now!_

Her throat felt thick. Fuji let out a little laugh and took her hand in a comforting gesture. Harumi looked up at him uncertainly, but the concern that was on his face before had melted away to mere tenderness.

"I'm sorry. I know you probably want to take this slow. It's been a long time, and I realize that we can't take things from where we left them three years ago. A lot of things have happened. We have all the time in the world now, so we will go at your pace."

He neared her and wrapped her in a tight embrace. Harumi relaxed against him, relieved that he didn't hate her for it. "Thank you Fuji. I really… never mind." She wrapped her arms around him too, and they stayed like that together for awhile, just breathing.

* * *

><p>During the next few days, Harumi felt pretty lethargic due to the jet lag, but not even that could prevent her from catching up with her friends and Fuji. Mostly everyone was busy with their part time jobs, tennis practice or summer classes in preparation for university, but in the evening some of them would still gather together to hit town, or go grab a bite at Takasan's sushi restaurant.<p>

In the morning, she would usually go to Fuji's place and then accompany him to his tennis practice. If she was lucky, one of the girls would be there too, and she would play a match or two with them. And living at Amaya's house was pretty nice; Amaya's parents were good to her, and never made her feel out of place. In exchange, she usually helped a little with the chores, although she always had the nasty feeling that things were more chaotic after she was done with them. At night, she chatted with Amaya until one of them fell asleep. Harumi loved to hear stories from the three years that she had missed.

Harumi was particularly interested though in knowing how exactly Chiharu and Atobe had broken up. They had been the most perfect couple that she had ever set eyes upon, after all. Amaya was vague on the subject though, saying that there was a conflict of interests, and that they weren't suited for each other when all was said and done. What Harumi really wanted to know though was who broke up with who, but seeing the vagueness from all her friends that welcomed her questions every time she brought up the subject, she could guess that it was probably Atobe who had ended it. And she could understand that Chiharu might have been very hurt by this; after all, she had never been rejected in her life.

The late night talks with Amaya gave her a sense of belonging again. Her friends in France were still relatively new, and there was always a language barrier, so she couldn't really talk openly with them about her problems and thoughts. But here, she finally felt at ease again and could open up about her feelings and gossip about things. When she was in France, the only place where she could issue her thoughts was on paper. That was how she had first started writing. She had never dreamed that one day her work would be translated into French and published, and that there would be people who would read her stories and like them.

She was especially surprised and delighted to see that Fuji was one of them. She had seen her books on his shelf the last time she visited him at his house.

"Sugoi! You have my books here! How come?" She asked excitedly while running to the shelf and taking out a thin book with a blue cover.

Fuji finished pouring the lemonade inside two giant glasses. "Ah yes! After you told me that your work was published, I just had to own a copy of it. I had to order them online though, and it took them awhile to come. But the story was really good Harumi! You are a skilful writer."

Harumi hid her face behind her hands. "Ahhh stop talking. Do you want me to die of embarrassment?" The little of Fuji's eye that she could see from between her fingers looked highly amused. "Well, thank you though." She finished in a low voice.

She vented herself with a fan and wiped the transpiration from her brow. "Wow, it's burning in here. Is it normal?"

Fuji seemed less bothered by the heat than she was. He eyed her amusedly and said : "Maa, it pretty much gets like this every summer."

"Damn it! Another thing to get used to." She mumbled under her breath, before letting out a squeal when Fuji pressed his glass against her neck.

Harumi turned around and jabbed him in the chest. "What did you do that for!" As Fuji pulled away, laughing, Harumi launched herself at him and stole his drink. "But it felt amazing, so I'm taking this, thank you."

She put the glass back against her moist skin and sighed. Fuji eyed the curve of her neck, and suddenly felt hot himself. He quickly looked away, and sprang up to answer the phone when it began ringing from the other room.

Harumi watched him leave and lazily lied down on the couch, thinking about what she should do now. She was staying at Amaya's house for the moment, but knew she couldn't free load forever. As much as her friend's parents had insisted that it was okay, she still felt bad about it. So she had planned to maybe look for a job, and earn some money to rent a place for herself.

"Tezuka called – Fuji said while coming back into the room after a few minutes – there's tennis practice all afternoon. Do you want to come?"

Harumi jumped up from the couch excitedly. "Sure! Let me borrow one of your rackets though. I don't' want to go all the way back to my house."

"Alright, they are in the bag inside my bedroom."

"I'll go grab them!"

Two hours later found Harumi sitting down on the bench with a towel around her neck, and sipping from her water bottle. She reattached her hair in a high pony tail and wiped the sweat from her face.

_It's way too hot to be playing tennis. Can we just go get some ice cream already?_

Mai sat down beside her too. The two girls had been playing a game of singles. Harumi was first sceptical when she had been sorted to play a game against Mai. She was the captain of her high school tennis club, and it was no secret that she probably hated Harumi for going out with Eiji and then breaking his heart. But surprisingly, she had managed to have a good time with Mai. It was partly due to how Mai wasn't so serious anymore. She smiled and laughed, and she didn't try to make everyone obey the rules.

"You went easy on me, didn't you?" Harumi asked.

Mai simply sipped her water. "No, I didn't. You were good Harumi! The only reason you lost is because you had no stamina left towards the end."

_And this bloody sun was giving me a headache too._

"You don't need to flatter me! I'm sure you went easy on me, because there's no way I'd score a 5-7 against my ex-buchou." She winked.

Mai turned to face her, and there was that stern look on her face again. "I don't flatter people, Yamazaki. Your skills got better. You've been practicing while in France, right?"

Harumi slowly nodded.

"Yeah, I can see that. So have more confidence in your own abilities."

Harumi sweatdropped. Maybe she had spoken too soon. Mai could still be very business-like.

Amaya and Chiharu were playing a match on their court, while the twin sisters were exchanging balls on the second court. All of them except Chiharu looked bothered by the heat. Chiharu was just unstoppable, a true flash of red as she plunged, jumped, ran, stopped and every time effortlessly hit back the ball with pinpoint precision.

Harumi pointed at her with her racket. "Chiharu is on a whole other level now."

Mai followed her movements for awhile. "She might even be better than me now." She admitted matter of factly.

"Are you serious?" Harumi was incredulous. "Does she want to be a pro then?"

"Not even, that's the funny part."

"But… why? She must have been working really hard to get this good. I know she can be a perfectionist sometimes, just for the sake of being one, but why not become a pro when she's already at this stage?"

Mai kept silent. "You will have to ask her."

Harumi gave her a sideways glance, but Mai's face was impassive. However, she was almost certain that Mai knew something she didn't.

"Well, does this have something to do with…"

The fence suddenly rattled loudly behind the two girls, making them jump up in alert.

They turned around and saw a tennis ball bounce away from the fence, into the court where a doubles game was going on between Kaidoh and Momo, and the Golden Pair.

"That right there almost gave me a heart attack!" Harumi exclaimed.

"Don't worry, it's just the boys getting into it," Mai sighed.

Harumi returned her attention the court, where Oishi was waving towards them. "Sorry!"

"No problem!" Mai waved back.

Harumi found her eyes stopping on Eiji, who looked at her briefly before looking away. She still couldn't read his face. Suddenly watching him made her uncomfortable. "Maybe… maybe I should go look for Fuji."

She moved to step away but Mai grabbed her arm with more force than necessary, she thought, and stopped her.

Her voice, however, was pleasant. "Come on! You have never seen the Golden Pair play, right? They went to the Nationals again last year."

"Come on, come on!" Momo was screaming towards the Golden Pair. "Give us all you've got, sempai!"

Harumi hesitated, but seeing the look in Mai's eyes, finally nodded and stepped closer to the fence again.

_Eiji doesn't want me here. I think the look he gave me clearly said it. And I know Mai saw it too. _

Oishi served, and as Momo immediately ran up to the net in offensive mode, Eiji quickly went to the center. "Moved too soon, sempai!" Momo shouted as he smashed the ball to the center left.

Eiji flashed him one of his trademark smiles and jumped back from where he came from, intercepting the ball with the racket swung behind his back. The ball flew right into Kaidoh's blind spot and bounced off the court. Eiji stuck out his tongue at him. "Maybe next time, hoi!"

"30-0 to the Golden Pair!" The referee said in awe.

Momo didn't have time to come up with a verbal counterattack before Kaidoh got in his space and started yelling that he was a dumb ass for letting his guard down. "Fsss! You should know Kikumaru-sempai better than that by now, you stupid ass!"

Momo pushed his forehead right against Kaidoh's. "What did you call me, you loser? You were the one who couldn't catch the ball! Apart from that boomerang thing you do, you're pretty much useless! How long has it been since you've mastered a new technique anyway, huh?"

Mai covered her face with one hand. "They are at it again."

Harumi sweatdropped. "Glad to see some things will always be constants no matter how much time passes."

Oishi walked up to the net, trying to pacify them.

"Hoihoi, internal conflict." Eiji grinned happily, his racket nonchalantly swung behind his back.

"Moh! Eiji, you aren't helping!" Oishi scolded.

Harumi watched Eiji smiling and teasing Momo and Kaidoh. She felt something constricting her chest. It was the first time that he was behaving like the Eiji she knew. She had thought he had changed into a completely different person, but at least on the tennis court, he was still Eiji. It had felt so wrong to see him keep a low profile at her welcome party, only speaking to Kirihara, and occasionally to Mai; in her memories, he always used to be the life and heart of every party he's been to. And most distressingly, there was the fact that he still hadn't spoken one word to her ever since he dropped her off at Amaya's house. Maybe it was her presence that made him like that. Maybe he was just cold towards her.

Not maybe, surely.

_And he has every reason to be.  
><em>

But it still hurt. And now, seeing him finally smiling, joking around, and jumping around the court doing his acrobatics, she felt such a pang of nostalgia that her hand unwillingly clenched tight around the fence.

She shouldn't have hurt him. She cared so much about him, how could she ever have done that to him? She should have never agreed to go out with him. It was too soon, and she did it out of hurt, because she didn't want to be alone, and Eiji was always there, being so nice to her. At the time it had seemed like a perfect idea, because her heart had been at peace whenever he was there. But ultimately, after finding out about Sayuri's betrayal, she found out that she just couldn't let Fuji go just yet. And at the same time, Fuji had finally seemed to reciprocate her feelings and was even actively pursuing her. How could she have turned him down? Harumi realized that she should have listened to Mai back then, when the latter had asked her to promptly end things with Eiji. At that time, Mai had been convinced that Harumi didn't really like Eiji. But that wasn't true… was it? She couldn't describe in exact words the way she had felt when she was with Eiji, but it had not been nothing.

_It had been everything to you at the time,_ her treacherous mind supplied.

Mai observed the expressions shift on Harumi's face, but said nothing.

Eventually, Oishi managed to separate Momo and Kaidoh, and the match resumed. Harumi found her attention riveted to Eiji as he jumped, feinted, teased the opponent, landed on one hand, and caught the ball without fail every single time, while his body turned and twisted at impossible angles. Soon Momo and Kaidoh, and even Oishi, were sweating from the heat, but Eiji seemed unfazed by it. A sense of joy descended upon her as she watched him do the thing he loved most in the entire world.

"He improved his stamina." She observed.

Mai didn't need to ask who "he" was. "Yup. He's worked really hard and it wasn't easy. You know that stamina has always been his weakest point. But he overcame it, and that really helped him at the Nationals."

Seeing that Harumi was silent, she continued. "He played singles."

Harumi nodded. "Yeah, I know. They told me. I was really surprised actually." She ran a hand through her ponytail. "I mean, the notion of Eiji and singles just sounded so weird to me, you know? He's always been a doubles player. But I'm not surprised that he won though. Every time he sets his mind on a goal, he works hard towards it until he gets it."

"Sometimes working hard is not enough."

Something in the tone of her voice made Harumi detach her eyes from the match to look at her. Mai was staring at her head on, her calm grey eyes inspecting hers, searching her. Harumi forced her hand to unclench the fence. She thought of running away from it, from her, from her unspoken accusation. But she didn't.

"We don't always get what we want in life, Mai. It's just not possible."

Mai 's eyes continued to appraise her for a moment longer, before she finally cast them down and said in a tired voice : "I know."

Harumi walked away, and this time Mai didn't stop her.

* * *

><p><em>Voila! I will be updating every Sunday, just to let you know! :D Thanks a lot for the reviews! they mean a lot to me and I'm so hyped to see some familiar usernames ahah! Still can't believe you guys are still loving this! I owe you everything! As for the new readers, I wanna know what you think too, so don't hesitate to leave a comment! In fact, it's ACTIVELY encouraged hahaha :)<em>


	3. A Promise with Mai

**A Promise with Mai**

After practice, when the sun finally set down, and the temperature started to cool down a bit, Momo proposed that everyone should go have dinner together.

"Guys, come to my restaurant! I'll make sushi for you all!" Taka-san proposed enthusiastically.

"Sounds great! I haven't had good sushi in a long time!" Harumi exclaimed, excited.

"Yosh, it's all settled then! I can't wait!" Momo was literally beaming as he went to give Kaidoh a provocative pat on the back.

Harumi rolled her sore muscles. She hadn't had such a good work out in a long time. It felt refreshing in a way. And of course, it got even better when she felt a pair of familiar arms wrap around her from behind.

She turned around and smiled at Fuji. "Hey!"

"Hey there! Are you tired?"

"I'll manage. How was your workout?"

"Tezuka was pretty harsh on us back there!"

Tezuka overheard and quirked an eyebrow. "Since when do you whine like that, Fuji?"

"Since he hasn't had a bit of my special deluxe newly improved Inui juice." Inui answered for Fuji while popping out of nowhere, like he always did. He extended a cup to Fuji. "How about a little energy booster, Fuji?"

Fuji eyed it curiously, but Harumi answered for him: "No thanks, he'll pass." Fuji looked at her, confused.

"Really? It looks good to me."

Harumi sweatdropped. "Yes, really. I can't have you passed out already." She glared at Inui accusingly.

"Hmm," Fuji conceded.

Inui pushed up his glasses with his forefinger. "You disappoint me, Fuji."

"You disappoint me, Fuji." Harumi repeated, imitating Inui's voice. Fuji laughed softly. "What can I do to un-disappoint you, then?"

Before Harumi could answer, Inui said "Ah!" and went to grab Eiji's arm, who was walking by. He thrust the drink forward to the redhead's face. "How about a sip of my special deluxe newly improved Inui juice?"

Eiji sniffed it by accident and quickly pinched his nose and backed away, going pale. "Stay away from me, Inui." He said in a nasal voice.

"Come on Kikumaru, you know you want to."

"It's gross! I don't want to drink that!" Eiji complained while quickly walking away.

Inui chased after him and grabbed his arm. "Come on, you have to! It's the new edition! I vouch for its quality 100%!"

Harumi stifled a laugh as Eiji squirmed under Inui and eluded him. "Mooooo, leave me alone, I-nu-i!" He shouted while emphasizing each syllable of Inui's name. As he twirled around, for a moment he caught a glimpse of Harumi's laughing eyes.

Harumi felt her smile freeze as his eyes went from being childishly annoyed to neutral.

As Inui grabbed him once more, Eiji suddenly pushed Inui's hand away, which caused him to drop the glass of juice on the ground. "I said _no, _are you deaf?"

Silently, Harumi, Fuji and Inui watched as Eiji quickly walked away.

"What a waste!" Inui lamented with sad eyebrows while bending down to pick up the remnants of the glass.

Fuji saw the forlorn expression on Harumi's face and quickly said: "That Eiji… always so hot tempered these days. But he's under a lot of stress so it's not surprising."

"Right", Inui agreed, "I heard he's working hard at tennis because that's the only way he can get a scholarship for university. So all his mind is set on tennis these days."

He glanced down at the broken cup in his hands, and his glasses shone. "It really is a waste though. The juice this time really was the best."

"Let's go, Harumi." Fuji said.

But Harumi was still looking at the spilled drink on the ground, her eyes a little wild.

_You know it's bad when even Inui is lying to cheer you up. _

Fuji gently nudged her forward. "Let's get going or they are going to finish all the sushi."

"Oh, right!" Harumi swallowed; her chest felt tight.

She caught a glance of Fuji's face and saw him looking at her carefully, with worry, as though she would break any second. She didn't like him looking at her like that.

"You don't need to worry – she spoke up brusquely, and then her tone softened – no one's gonna even touch your wasabi sushi."

Fuji's shoulders relaxed and he played along: "Why not?"

Harumi blinked.

"Because it's not eatable?"

"What are you talking about? It's delicious!" Fuji exclaimed confusedly.

She looked at him with a small smile. "Your taste buds worry me."

Twenty minutes later found them all sitting in the restaurant.

The sushi tasted great, and Harumi had to admit that Taka-san was getting really good at this. Her friends had told her via email that he had already taken over his old man's job and was now the number one sushi chef in Japan. And as if to prove it, the restaurant was quite crowded when they had gotten there.

At first, they all sat at one table, eating and joking around. Harumi couldn't help but notice with a heavy heart that Eiji hadn't shown up at all. He loved sushi and would usually never miss an opportunity to stuff himself with it, but apparently her mere presence had the power to turn him off anything these days.

As the evening wore off, and a line up started forming outside the restaurant, the guys all stood up and went over to the counter to help Taka-san, while the girls went to one table at the back end of the restaurant. Harumi caught up some more with her friends, telling them about how life had been in France, and how the fashion from Paris had just left her in awe. "I wish I was a millionaire so that I could bring all the stores back home with me. It's just amazing! And I was lucky enough to be there during Fashion week when all the models show off the new designs. "

Chiharu perked up at this bit of news. "You are so lucky Harumi! I wish I could have gone with you. Walking down that aisle wearing designers' clothes is my dream!"

Chiharu wanted to be a model. Two summers before, she had been approached by an agency who was convinced she was the perfect figure for an ad that they wanted to do. Chiharu had accepted, and it had all started from there. Chiharu knew she had the looks and the charisma to pull it off. And ever since then, she'd done some TV commercials and other small gigs.

Harumi looked with envy at Chiharu's womanly curves. She had perfect proportions from her breast, to her waist, to her long legs. And her face always sparkled with that touch of delicacy that some models lacked. Her green eyes were filled with confidence and intelligence, and really, Harumi was pretty sure every guy from her old junior high had had a crush on her at least once.

Naoko sighed. "Chiharu, you are already making it out there! I saw you on TV a few months ago, so if that's not making it, I don't know what is."

Chiharu waved it off. "That was nothing. An ad for jeans! - she added deprecatingly –No, I want to be a model like those girls displaying famous brands of clothes in Paris! That is my ultimate dream right now!" she finished with shining eyes.

"Yeah, and all the guys would be falling for you too." Naoki added teasingly.

"My dear, they already are. In fact, I think everybody at Seigaku wanted to conquer my heart at one point or another." She added smugly, amusement peaking behind her green eyes.

Harumi quirked an eyebrow and eyed Fuji, who was talking with Tezuka and Momo. Chiharu caught her glance and burst out laughing. "Don't worry girl, I meant everyone except two guys."

Harumi blushed. Chiharu bumped her arm and throwing her fiery hair behind her shoulders, she lamented : "Yup, could never get Fuji Syusuke interested. I don't think he was interested in anybody back then though because of that Sayuri person. Or if he did, he hid it well. Besides, I'm fairly certain I'm not his type."

"Who's the second guy then?" Harumi asked, rolling her eyes, but smiling.

"Kikumaru." She answered good naturedly with a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't think he was ever interested in any girl until you came along. You gave his hormones a good wake up call." She laughed.

Harumi felt her heart skip a beat. Ever since she came back, no one had been so direct about her past relationship with Eiji, but yeah… trust Chiharu to always be so straight forward about everything.

"Oh… i-is that so?" She asked, twisting her chopsticks in her empty plate.

"I thought you knew it!"

Amaya gave Chiharu a quick kick under the table, but the redhead proceeded as if nothing happened:

"I mean, the first time you have feelings for somebody, it's always special eh? It's kinda hard to forget, no matter how hard you try. I'm sure you knew that, so that's why you agreed to go out with Eiji. You just couldn't say no to his puppy eyes, could you? Especially considering that you were his first love." She appraised Harumi with a sharp glance.

Naoko looked shocked, holding both hands to her mouth as her eyes darted from Chiharu to Harumi. Naoki, on the contrary, was beaming with curiosity at where this conversation was suddenly going. Amaya kicked Chiharu's ankle under the table again with more force. Mai was silently listening, watching as Harumi kept twisting her chopsticks in silence.

"It's not… like that." Harumi started saying.

Chiharu looked perplexed."Not like that? What do you mean? I thought you agreed to go out with him because you wanted to get over Fuji, and at the same time make Eiji happy."

Harumi looked up angrily and threw the chopsticks on the table. "It's not like that!"

Seeing her face, Chiharu thought maybe she went a little far, and lifted her hands in peace. However, to her surprise, Mai took over the offensive.

"Not like what?" She exclaimed disbelievingly. "I told you not to break Kikumaru's heart! You couldn't see it yourself, but I could see it clearly. You just never loved him. You used him for your own purposes, and then when Fuji came running after you, you just ditched Kikumaru aside, gave him a short break up, and left."

The table fell silent. Everyone who remained in the almost empty restaurant had their eyes on their little group. The guys all looked over to the girls' table, alerted by the loud voices. Harumi shot them a nervous glance, and saw Momo, Kaidoh, Taka-san, Tezuka, Oishi and Fuji all staring at them, stopped in the middle of their own conversation.

Suddenly, she needed some air; she pushed back her chair and stormed out of the restaurant. Alarmed, Fuji stood up to go after her, but was stopped by Amaya, as Mai rushed outside in Harumi's footsteps.

"What's going on?" Fuji asked.

"It's okay. Mai and Harumi just need to talk." Amaya answered with a reassuring smile.

Mai ran after Harumi and yanked her to a stop by the arm. "Don't you dare run away from this! I thought you understood! I thought you would have at least the decency not to deny the despicable way in which you handled the situation!"

Harumi threw off Mai's hand, and glared back, her purple eyes moist. "I've thought about it! I've thought about him every freaking day while I was away. And don't you dare imply that I ran away from this! I didn't have a choice. I would have stayed if I could, and you know it! As for Eiji, I've been meaning to talk to him since I got here. I know he hates me now, but I still want to try and say all those things that were unspoken three years ago. It might be too late, but late is better than never. And I will do it. I'm not running away from this!"

Mai was shaking her head. "What good would it be? You hurt him bad, and you can never take that back."

Harumi ran a wild hand through her hair, as the streetlamp beside her cast dark dancing shadows on both their faces. "Don't you think I know that? – she yelled angrily - but I still have to talk to him and…."

"And say what exactly? 'I'm sorry for playing you Eiji. I didn't mean for our relationship to be that serious. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding'? Somehow I don't think this will cheer him up a whole lot." Mai ended sarcastically.

Harumi stayed silent. "I was confused, I know that. But while I was with him, I was sincere. And that's the part you got wrong Mai, because I did like being with him. I didn't agree to go out with him out of pity, or because I couldn't say no. I honestly believed I could be happy with him, and I wasn't wrong. I was happy."

"Yeah, until your little prince charming came around and confessed his love for you." Mai said while throwing her arms in the air.

"I thought it was impossible with Fuji! I was ready to move on! What would you have had me do?" Harumi shouted.

"Yeah? Well here is what you should have done. You should have ended it while it was still early, and the guy hadn't actually fallen in love with you yet. Or better still, you should have never agreed to go out with him while your feelings for Fuji were still unsorted. You rushed because you didn't want to be alone, and Eiji was oh so conveniently there, declaring his love for you, looking at you with those pleading eyes of his. And you just felt so comforted that you were still wanted after all, that you mistook that feeling of safety for love. So don't tell me I don't know what you felt or what I'm talking about, because I'm seeing this more clearly than you do, even after three freaking years!"

Harumi's shoulders slumped a little more at each word that Mai uttered. She hugged herself and bit her lip to keep from saying something she would regret, because at that moment, she knew that Mai was right. And she knew that Mai had a perfectly valid reason to be mad at her.

For a moment, there was nothing but the buzzing of the insects disrupting the quiet of the night. Then, Harumi whispered so faintly she could barely hear her own words. "What should I do, Mai?"

She looked up at Mai, expecting a glare to be present on her face, but the blonde girl just looked as sad as she herself felt.

"Just let him go, Harumi – Mai let out in a whisper, which still sounded too clear and final in the night air – whatever you were planning to say to him… don't. I just want him to be happy. I just want him to forget you, and be happy." Mai breathed in sharply and looked up at the night sky, where no stars could be seen though.

Harumi's fists clenched tighter.

Mai turned away. "Just keep your distance from him. It will be good for the both of you. It shouldn't be too hard for you. You have Fuji now, and I… I just want to be that person for Kikumaru someday."

Harumi imitated Mai and took a deep breath. "Aren't you guys going out already?"

Mai paused for a few seconds before answering : "Not right now, no. Because he's not ready." She faced Harumi and her grey eyes looked determined as she added : " But someday, he will be. And I will be here waiting for him."

Harumi slowly let out her breath.

"Why is he not ready?" She whispered, her heart thumping.

_It couldn't be that he was still…_

Mai's angry voice cut her thoughts short. "You think he still loves you?"

Harumi looked up sharply, and Mai touched a hand to her forehead, her expression incredulous. "You don't have to worry about that. It's been three years. Three years are more than enough to get over anybody, especially someone who leaves you with such bitter memories."

Mai took a deep breath and her features returned to being calm. "You don't need to preoccupy yourself over why he's not ready. All I can tell you is that it has nothing to do with you."

Harumi closed her eyes and just breathed. She didn't know if she felt relieved or disappointed. It's one thing that Eiji had no more feelings towards her, but could it be possible that he didn't think of her as anything now? Not even as a friend?

_Right. As it should be. Mai really loves Eiji, I can see it now. Everything she's doing, it's for him. All I wanted to do is regain the friendship that I had with him, but in light of everything that's happened, I have no right to ask for that anymore. _

Harumi gave Mai a small smile. "I understand. I will stay away." She conceded weakly.

Mai's anxious eyes relaxed a little. Harumi squeezed her arm gently and walked away.

* * *

><p>"You okay?" Amaya asked from the door to Harumi's room.<p>

The girl with purple eyes was staring unblinkingly at the ceiling.

"Fuji called again, you know? He's worried about you."

Harumi sighed. "Didn't you tell him I was fine?"

"I did, but he didn't believe me. He really wants to speak to you. He said he's going to come over if you don't pick up the phone."

Harumi rubbed her eyes and sat up, rummaging inside her hand bag until she found her cell phone.

_15 missed calls_

Harumi pressed "1" on speed dial and watched as Amaya gave her a small smile before closing the door and leaving her alone.

Fuji picked up after one ring. "Harumi? Where are you? What happened back there?"

Harumi lied back down, playing with the huge bunny by her bedside. "Yeah, I'm at Amaya's house. Sorry I didn't tell you I was leaving."

"Did you have a fight with Mai-chan already?"

"There were some things that we just needed to say to each other. But don't worry, everything is settled now." She answered with a sigh.

There was a pause at the other end of the line, and she got the distinct impression that Fuji wasn't buying what she was saying.

"Fuji, it's really no big deal. Don't worry about this."

Fuji seemed to relax on the other end of the line. "Alright, if you're fine, that's all I wanted to know. Do you want me to come over?"

Harumi shook her head before remembering that he couldn't see her. "No, daijoubu! It's late, and I don't want to disturb Amaya's parents. But I will see you tomorrow morning! I'm passing by that place that sells really good pastries, do you want anything?"

She heard Fuji chuckle. "Always thinking about food!"

"What? It's healthy to eat a good breakfast! Besides, that shop really has yummy stuff. I have to warn you though, they have nothing with wasabi."

"Harumi! Are you going to make fun of me with that forever?"

The young girl bit her lip to suppress the smile that wanted to stretch out on her face. "Yup! Better get used to it!"

They chatted for a bit more before they said goodnight, and she ended the call.

She felt better now after hearing his voice. She stared at the ceiling for a moment in peace, but then the scene from earlier started lurking at the back of her mind again. Letting out a frustrated groan, she rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes until everything felt numb and the world was spinning a little, and she couldn't hear Mai's words anymore. Then she turned off the lamp and crawled under the covers.

* * *

><p>Yuuta did a double take when he opened the door the next morning and saw the girl on his doorstep. She was wearing a white blouse over a pair of short jeans that showcased the length of her legs. Her soft brown hair looked like honey under the rays of the early sun, and it was attached in a ponytail to the side. Two curious purple eyes were staring up at him. "Good morning, Yuuta-kun! I hope I'm not too early?"<p>

Yuuta blushed slightly upon recognizing her. He hadn't seen her in person for years, and he didn't remember ever thinking she was that cute the last time he'd seen her.

"No, of course not. Come on in."

He swiftly moved aside to give her entrance, and Harumi hopped in merrily, looking around. "I haven't been here in so long, but this place hasn't changed one bit. Neh, is Fuji awake?"

Yuuta suddenly frowned at her. "You're still calling my brother Fuji?"

Harumi blushed. "What? Oh n-no! Well… yes?"

Yuuta burst out laughing. "Oh my God, I can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?" Fuji said while coming into the kitchen. "Oh, good morning Harumi!" He went to her and gave her a small hug. Yuuta was staring at them both with a smirk. "Neh, oniichan, you still haven't let your girlfriend call you by your first name?"

Fuji looked dumbstruck for a moment before touching his forehead with his thumb. "Yuuta, what are you saying?" Harumi blushed even more, but stepped forward and said : "Well, he did let me. A long time ago. But... well, it's just me... I guess I just never… I mean, I've always called him Fuji…" Her voice trailed off while Yuuta's laugh filled the room once more.

Fuji stepped on his foot to make him shut up, looking quite embarrassed as well now.

"Oh come on you guys! I've never heard of a couple still being on last name basis after three years."

"Well, we haven't been exactly together together for the last three years…" Fuji spoke up in her defense.

"Who cares! You guys were still in a relationship!" Yuuta exclaimed, shaking his head.

"Okay, okay – Harumi interceded – your brother is right, F…S-Syusuke…"

She immediately went into flailing mode. "Oh my god! It just feels so weird! I tried saying it before too, but like… I don't know! It's like, you've been calling oranges "oranges" all your life and then suddenly there's like another name for it, and you have to use it instead, and it just feels out of place, you know?"

Yuuta gawked at her. "Ano… there's only one name for oranges and that's… "oranges", so… I don't exactly know what you're talking about, no."

Fuji was trying to hide his smile behind his hand, but Harumi spotted him immediately. "Well, you know what I mean, don't you, F… Syusuke?" She stared at him earnestly, which only made his smile bloom into a full out laugh.

Harumi pouted and turned her back to him. "Whatever, laugh all you want. I'm getting myself some juice."

She popped open the fridge and hid behind the door.

Yuuta finished cracking up and clicked his tongue with amusement. He punched his brother in the arm and whispered : "She's a strange one."

"She's not!" Fuji whispered back.

"Yeah, she totally is. But she's also hot, so nicely done, bro."

Fuji literally pushed Yuuta out of the room. "Don't you have summer school?"

"Hai, hai."

"Well get going!"

Yuuka smirked. "Hey, don't tell me what to do!" But he left anyway.

In the meantime, Harumi had poured herself and Fuji two glasses of orange juice. "Moooo, was your brother this annoying before?" She pouted.

"No, he was worse before."

"I miss the time when I haven't yet realized."

"I can't blame you for that." Fuji said after a gulp of the refreshing juice.

Harumi cleared her throat. "But he's right. I mean, I should call you Syusuke now, right? Or it's gonna be all weird."

"Harumi, just do whatever makes you more comfortable." Fuji said kindly. "I don't mind either way."

"Well… I guess… saying Syusuke would make us closer." She murmured in a low voice, but she looked happy.

Fuji circled her waist and Harumi gasped a little and stared up into his clear blue eyes. The morning sun made his face look warm. She cupped his face in her hand not holding the glass, and tenderly caressed the soft skin of his cheek, marvelling at how good it felt under her fingers. Fuji brought his lips to her forehead and planted a small kiss there. "That's good – he murmured with his mouth against her skin – I want you to call me that then. It makes me happy too."

Harumi cursed the blush that was creeping up on her cheeks again. Why did he make her blush so much? But she was so happy at his words. All she wanted was to make him happy. She gently ran her hand down his smooth brown hair and teased : "Is that so, Syusuke? Then I think I could get used to this real fast."

Fuji cupped her face in his and quickly pecked a kiss to her lips. They pulled apart as Fuji inquired: "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Yeah, at Amaya's house. Her parents made me a really good breakfast, as usual."

"Maa, I guess will just make something for myself then."

As Fuji cooked, they made some small talk with Harumi doing some stretching exercises in the living room. After a couple of minutes, he finished the omelette he had made and went to put the dish in the sink. As he entered the living room, he saw her lying near her couch, stretching her legs. He stopped for a moment to admire the look of concentration on her face, and the way her soft body bent forward as she touched her toes.

"So, what exactly happened last night?"

Harumi startled slightly at the sound of his voice and grimaced inwardly. She was wondering when this would come up. "You mean the stuff with Mai?"

_Stupid. What else?_

Without waiting for an answer from him, she lied back down on the carpet and stared at the ceiling. Fuji came to sit down beside her.

_Should I tell him about Eiji? I definitely should. Maybe he can help me understand why Eiji's changed so much. This is not a conversation I'd like to have, but I think it's inevitable, and it's better to get it done now._

Fuji watched as her purple eyes became serious.

"Well, we were talking about Eiji."

She waited for his reaction, but there was only a small nod of understanding from him. Maybe he knew all along. After all, what else would Mai ever get angry for?

"And she told me some things that I really needed to hear. I guess I've been lying to myself up until now. I wanted to reject the blame of what happened onto someone else, or at least make my part in it less ugly, but really, it was all my own fault, and I accept that now."

Fuji grabbed her hand and slid his fingers through hers. "I can't say that I wasn't to blame either."

"No, don't lie to me and try to make me feel better about this. I already accepted what happened as my responsibility!"

Her glance made his protest die in his throat. "It's okay, really. I think things are settled now. Eiji was a good friend to me… a better friend than what I deserved, but now things are irreparable between us. So… I guess…" She swallowed, thinking back to Mai's demand that she never speak to him again, and her own acceptance of Mai's terms. But for some reason, she couldn't voice it now.

Fuji's grip tightened on hers. "He's changed ever since you left. I'm sure you've noticed that."

Harumi nodded. "Yes. How did it happen? Is it because of me, and of… you know, what happened before I left? I've seen the way he looks at me. I think he really hates me now – she bit her lip – and when I was away, every time I asked Amaya or Naoki about him, they all refused to say more than "he's doing fine""

Fuji was silent as he considered what to say, or how to say it. Harumi tensed. Maybe asking him wasn't such a good idea. Fuji spoke up: "It wasn't easy for him at first, and I bet you knew that. But eventually he did get better."

Harumi didn't quite believe his words. How was _this_ better?

"And then – Fuji pursued – something else happened."

Harumi lifted herself up on one elbow, peering at Fuji curiously. "What?"

Fuji looked around uncomfortably. "I'm surprised the other girls didn't tell you, but… he's living by himself now."

"What?" Harumi exclaimed shrilly. "Why? Don't tell me… something happened to his family?"

"No. At least, not his close family," Fuji was fast to reassure her. "Last year, his grandpa on his mother's side passed away, and that was really tough on his grandma. So his mom went there to take care of his grandma, and to make sure everything at their house was alright. And at first it was going well, with Eiji's mom away and his dad staying with him and his siblings here. But then his grandma fell ill, probably because of grief, and it was too much for his mom to handle alone, so his dad went to help her deal with everything. Eiji assured him that he would be fine living by himself. And all of Eiji's friends said they would be there for him too."

He turned around to see Harumi staring wide eyed at him, concern clearly visible in her eyes. "But in that case he's not living alone then! What about his siblings?"

"Before his grandpa died, his two brothers got married, and one of his sisters got engaged, so they had already left the house. The youngest sister left to do an exchange program in the States that lasts three years. She left when Eiji was still living with his Dad, and right now, I don't think she knows that Eiji is living by himself, or else she'd come back here. But I don't think Eiji wants her to do that."

Harumi looked outside the large glass door into Fuji's garden. "I didn't know any of this." She whispered.

_I can't believe Eiji is living on his own. He's always been such a sociable person. He must feel so lonely. _

Fuji looked at her carefully, his expression sad, before taking her hand in his. "Your friends probably didn't want to make you feel bad, especially since you couldn't have done anything about it."

"But… but you guys could have done something! You were here!" She exclaimed, her voice thick. "You were right here next to him, why didn't you do anything about it? You could have helped him!"

Fuji was stricken by the intensity in her purple eyes, and suddenly he couldn't look at her in the eyes. "Harumi… _I_ wouldn't have been able to do a thing for him either. I've tried, but it just made matters worse. We aren't… exactly on speaking terms."

Harumi buried her face in her hands. Fuji sighed and rubbed small circles on her back. "Harumi, it's not that bad for him anymore. I couldn't help him much, but the others did. Mai-chan did. And it's really not as bad anymore. Trust me."

Harumi looked up at Fuji's soft and reassuring voice. She quickly rubbed her eyes, but she wasn't crying. She was still in shock.

"Does it… - Fuji cut off, but then started again – does Eiji's situation make you so upset?"

Harumi's head jerked up at his words. "Doesn't it make _you_ upset? It must have been so hard for him. And I…"

_I wasn't here for him. _

She sighed and curled up into a ball against the couch. "It's just that I've done him a lot of wrong. Syusuke, you know this too. I feel like I should have done something, anything. But I didn't even _know _about this."

Fuji hesitantly patted her on the back. "I know, Harumi, I know. But he wasn't the only one who suffered while you were away."

Harumi slowly looked up at him. "What do you mean? Who…? Did you…?"

Fuji's blue eyes held her in their gaze for awhile but he closed them in a smile. "Some days, I missed you so much I thought I was going insane. In fact, I did go crazy a few times." His face suddenly darkened at this at some memory, but Harumi didn't notice.

She was too busy trying to calm down the frantic pounding of her own heart.

She itched close to him and made him look at her by gently turning his face in her direction. She held his gaze, eyes a little wild, and a little moist, hoping they could convey the words that she could not utter at the moment. Fuji searched her face for a moment before his face split into a gentle smile.

And then, Harumi was hugging him. Tight. With her face pressed against his shoulder and her hair scratching his chin a little. She had missed him too. She had also thought that she'd go insane.

"I'm here now." She muttered against his shirt.

Fuji hid his face in her hair and clutched her hard, so hard that she was almost certain she'd see bruises the next day where his fingers were digging into her skin. But she welcomed the pain.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"For what?" Harumi let out.

"We shouldn't have been apart this long."

That was a weird thing to say. In fact, the intensity with which he was hugging her at the moment, even though it made her happy, also confused her. Harumi tried to look at him, but he was grabbing onto her too hard. She rubbed his back gently. "Not anymore. Alright? Not ever. And it's not something you should be apologizing for. Neither of us have done anything wrong. We couldn't help being apart, so don't think about it anymore, hmm?"

They stayed close for some time, just clinging to each other, with the young girl rubbing circles on his back. She didn't know he had felt this distressed over their separation, but somehow knowing it now made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. She smiled and gently patted his head.

Gradually, Fuji's hold on her grew more gentle, and then he was looking at her, smiling quite sheepishly.

The smile she was already wearing grew tender. "Do you know how much I love you right now?"

Fuji's eyes widened a little. Harumi bent down to touch her lips to his. After a moment, he kissed her back gently, softly, until gradually, the kisses grew longer and more passionate. Fuji's hand was on her side, big and warm. Harumi opened her eyes to catch a glimpse of a brown lock falling in between his eyes. She broke off the kiss and reached to brush it away.

When her gaze connected with his however, she drew in a breath. The way he was looking at her… his eyes were full of love, but also ... desire. There was a fire burning in his blue irises. She froze for a second or two before she hastily crawled out from underneath him. She stood up and looked at the watch. The warm and fuzzy feeling inside of her was suddenly chased away by uncertainty, and maybe something like alarm.

"Oh, look at the time. It's 10am already. I was planning on starting to look for a summer job today. " She let out a disgruntled groan, and watched nervously from the corner of her eye as Fuji stared at the clock on the wall as well.

"Don't worry, it's still early. You will have plenty of time." He said, brushing his hair back.

Harumi quickly rearranged her hair as well and pulled on her clothes to get rid of the wrinkles. "You know what they say…the early worm gets the bird, so I better get going."

Fuji chuckled. "Do you mean "the early bird gets the worm"?"

Harumi ran to the entrance and put on her sneakers. "Yeah, yeah, something like that. Hey, you have tennis practice again, don't you?"

"Yeah, Tezuka is making us work double time during the summer." Fuji answered, following her to the door.

"Stop the act! I'm sure you're secretly enjoying this, you little tennis addict." She mumbled while tying her shoelace.

"Harumi..."

"See you later then!" She cut him off with a smile, half turned towards him, before opening the door. He stopped her by the arm before she could step outside, and made her turn back to look at him. Harumi's eyes locked with his immediately, and she held her breath.

Fuji was searching her face worriedly, but the expression that was in his eyes before had completely disappeared. Harumi suddenly felt silly. She was about to open her mouth and say something, when he sighed and then cupped her face in his hands.

"Harumi, please… I'm sorry. Please don't freak out."

His blue eyes were pleading. Harumi felt even more ridiculous than she already was.

"I'm not freaking out."

"Yes, yes you are. And I'm sorry for that. I know… I know we said we would take it slow. I haven't forgotten that." He released her arm and scratched at his now ruffled hair, and his contrite expression made Harumi's remaining tension disappear and her embarrassment grow.

"Haha, I don't know what you're talking about." She shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other.

Fuji let it go. "Okay, never mind. Go now. Good luck today!"

Harumi literally shut the door in his face before running away. When she turned the corner of the street, she stopped and brought a hand to rest against her chest. Her thoughts were in disarray, and she wondered briefly how she was supposed to focus on finding a job now, when all her mind was thinking back to that moment.

If she had held any doubt as to whether the expression in Fuji's eyes had meant what she thought it meant, the fact that Fuji had brought up the words "to take it slow" dispelled those doubts quite rapidly.

She wasn't ready for this yet. She knew that it was a step that people in a relationship all had to make, but she still thought she was too young for this. Her parents had told her once that they were not conservative, and that they trusted her to make the right call when the moment came, but she knew how important this was. She wanted to do it with the right person, at the right time. She had no doubt Fuji was the right person, but back there, it hadn't been the right time. She didn't know when the right time would be, but somehow, she had difficulty picturing it in the near future.

Heart still pounding a little, she pushed herself off the wall and walked into the summer haze.

* * *

><p><em>I'm sickkk :( and it sucks! I'm sure a few reviews will make me feel better though! there's no better cure than that, ha! hope you all liked this! :p :p :p Thanks to everyone who reviewed before! they are like sunshine on a rainy day! 3<br>_


	4. Secrets

**Secrets**

Harumi spent the next two hours going from shop to shop and restaurant to restaurant, looking for work, but her mind was miles away from her purpose. Besides, all the spots had already been filled by high school students who had applied early for a summer job.

After yet another unsuccessful visit to a clothes store in downtown, it was getting too hot and her feet were killing her. She stopped for ice cream and ate it without knowing how it tasted, sitting at an outdoor café, under the shadow of the colourful umbrella erected in the middle of the circular table.

Her thoughts fleeted an instant to the conversation she'd had with Fuji that morning about Eiji's situation, but it was soon replaced by Fuji's eyes, so blue and so dark, bearing onto her. She stood up and walked away, throwing the unfinished cone in the garbage.

It was nearing 6pm as she walked back to Amaya's house and dropped her butt on the bed. Sighing, she lied down and closed her eyes.

She was almost falling asleep when a French tune startled her back to wakefulness. She rummaged through her hand bag with her eyes half closed and then opened her cell phone.

"Moshi mosh?" She mumbled from the side of her mouth.

"Hey Harumi! Amaya here! How was your job hunting?"

"Remarkably unproductive."

"Oh, I see. How come I'm not surprised?"

Harumi pouted. "Hey, somehow you're making this sound like it's my fault? Blame those high school kids. I just can't compete with their eagerness to throw their summer away."

There was a silence on the other end of the line. "Was that the only reason you were so unproductive?"

Harumi twitched_. Damn that Amaya for always being so perceptive_.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" She asked.

Amaya paused. "Depends? How personal?"

"Very, very personal."

There was another pause. "Well, now you're scaring me. So, ask away."

Harumi took a deep breath and started counting the patterns on the ceiling.

"Hello?"

Harumi turned over onto her belly and stared at the phone for awhile. Just stared at it. Then put it back against her ear: "Have… you... I mean. You know."

"Harumi, you're not making a lot of sense right now."

"I know. Pretend I didn't say anything."

She cut off Amaya in mid-sentence by hanging up. She counted to three before the phone started ringing again.

"You did not just hang up on me."

"Yeah, no, sorry. The call got cut."

"Ha ha. Right." Amaya's sarcasm faded away and concern crept into her voice. "Harumi, are you all right? Did something happen? Why are you acting so weird?"

Harumi's cheeks felt like they were on fire. She couldn't possibly ask Amaya over the phone. "I'll tell you later, ok? In person."

"O-kay. Now you're really worrying me. The only reason I'm not rushing home this instant is because I have to go have dinner with Oishi. I promised him I would and I can't get out of it now, especially since we are both busy and we haven't seen each other in awhile. He'd kill me if I ditched him tonight. Can you hang on until I get back?"

Harumi frowned, and then laughed. "Amaya, it's not that serious. Take your time on your date."

She ended the call and lied on her bed, staring out at the sun still bright outside her window. She enjoyed the way the days were longer in the summer, stretching until 9pm when the sun finally descended below the mountains at the confines of the city. Usually, lying on her bed and staring outside the window into the skies could always calm her down, but today she felt restless.

After a good stretch, she lifted herself off the bed, and leaving the shopping bags where they were, she went to the bathroom to quickly fix her hair and her clothes before grabbing her wallet and exiting the house.

She remembered this little ramen restaurant that she had been to before with the girls, but she couldn't remember exactly where it was. As she walked down the familiar street, she noticed that there were some changes. Some shops had disappeared, being replaced by new ones. She paused outside the tennis store at the corner of the street, and stared at the tennis shoes displayed just inside the window.

She continued her leisure walk and soon passed by the busy part of downtown to reach the area near her old middle school Seigaku.

She walked up some stairs and spotted the courts for street tennis. Some players were already on the courts, exchanging shots, and a band of guys of around 15 or 16 years old were battling it out on the center court, screaming, hollering and jumping excitedly up and down. They really reminded her of how the male Seigaku tennis team used to be.

Still were.

She smiled and pursued her walk. The last court of the area was separated from the others by a wall. It was sometimes reserved for people who wished to train for tournaments, but there was a fee to be paid for the reservation.

She peeked around the wall because she could hear the sound of ball meeting racket. What she saw made her stop and jerk back. Biting her lip, she breathed in deeply and peeked again.

And there was Eiji.

He was running all over the half of the court closer to where she was, hitting back balls to none other than Kirihara. She neared the wall for a better look, her heart beating wildly as if she was spying on something she wasn't supposed to see.

Eiji was running from right to left, reaching out his racket to return the balls that Kirihara was mercilessly smashing against the corners. They were both panting and sweating abundantly, with Kirihara's curly locks of black hair placated against his forehead and Eiji's red hair wet against the base of his neck.

She watched them for a moment, and then decided it was better to just go. She had promised Mai that she wouldn't go near him. Encountering him here was an accident, but lingering and eventually attracting his attention would be asking for it. However, there was something weird about the scene before her eyes that she couldn't put her finger on.

Eiji turned around to run after the ball, and Harumi quickly stepped back behind the wall, cringing at the possibility that Eiji had seen her standing there. When she peeked again, Eiji had both hands on his knees, panting wildly. He must have missed the ball then. How very unlikely of him.

The young girl frowned, and her glance travelled up to the other half of the courts where Kirihara was regaining his breath, his racket swung over his shoulder. Kirihara wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, revealing a smirk.

"Come on Kikumaru. Are you really this pathetic?"

Harumi frowned, her hands clenching into fists unconsciously. Eiji scrambled up on his feet and good naturedly wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Sorry. Let's try again." He said in between breaths.

He picked up his racket and resumed his position. Kirihara's smirk didn't disappear as he served the ball hard. Harumi itched closer to the corner of the wall, her hands grabbing the edges of it anxiously.

Eiji returned the ball with a groan, and a rally broke out.

After three or four more exchanges, realization dawned on her. The match in front of her eyes had felt so wrong because Eiji wasn't doing the acrobatics that he normally did. He was running around the court, but there was not the usual alertness to his moves. Harumi wondered for how long he had been training. He looked exhausted.

Kirihara smashed a ball to the left corner with such a speed that the ball was a blur. She thought for sure Eiji wouldn't catch that one, but he jumped sideways, pushed on the ground with one hand, reached his racket hand and sent the ball back with a backhand.

"Yes!" She cheered quietly. However, Kirihara was right at the net, and his eyes had a scary light to them. His hand tightened on his racket as he smashed the ball right back onto Eiji's left wrist, causing him to collapse to the ground with a grunt of pain as he dropped his racket to cradle his left wrist in his right hand.

Harumi felt her heart literally stop. Her friends had told her how dirty Kirihara had played against Fuji, but she didn't know how horrible it would be to witness that in person. Before she knew what she was doing, she was inside the court.

Eiji was standing up now, with his back still to her, but Kirihara saw her approaching from over Eiji's shoulder. His green eyes held a glint of surprise upon seeing her, before being replaced by amusement, which just made her even angrier. In a second, she was between him and Eiji, and she got into his space.  
>"What the hell do you think you are doing?"<p>

Kirihara held up his hand not holding the racket. "Hey, hey! Who are you to ask me that? You do look familiar though…. mmm…"

Harumi's purple eyes glinted with fury. "You don't need to know who I am. Just get the hell away from Eiji!"

"H-Harumi?" She didn't need to turn around to see the surprise and shock on Eiji's face.

"It's okay Eiji - she said, eyes not leaving Kirihara's - you don't need to play with this jerk anymore."

Kirihara grunted in a dangerous voice. "Who are you calling a jerk?"

"I saw what you did! You despicable low-life! You shouldn't be allowed to hold a racket because all you do with it is hurt other people. You..."

She felt Eiji yank her back on the arm. "It's okay, Harumi. He's not..."

"You don't need to explain Eiji, I saw what he did to you! He's just a stupid boy who likes to bully others."

Seeing Kirihara's eyes harden, Eiji quickly twirled Harumi around, forcing her to face him. "Harumi, stop! Right now!"

Harumi eyed his face, at the way he was still panting slightly from the exercise, and her glance slid down to his wrist. "But he..."

Eiji twirled his wrist in front of her, and seeing that she was still sceptical, he twirled his racket around his wrist too, the way he always did before matches. Smiling at the look of mild disbelief on her face, he said in his most soothing tone. "See? No harm done!"

Harumi looked between them suspiciously.

"Why are you playing with him in the first place?"

Kirihara huffed and walked away. "We are done for today, Kikumaru."

"No... wait!" Eiji protested.

"I can't deal with girl drama, especially when it comes from this particularly annoying female specimen."

"What!" Harumi yelled after him, extremely offended. "What did you just call me? A specimen?"

Eiji winced and quickly patted her shoulder, trying to be soothing. "It's okay, let it go. He's really bad at taking insults, and you issued quite a lot of them back there."

Harumi watched in disbelief as Eiji tried not to laugh as he said that.

"You've got some explaining to do! What on earth are you doing with the likes of him?" She finally asked, forcing her voice to go back to a normal timbre.

Eiji walked back to his bench and put back his racket inside his bag. He then threw a towel around his neck. "We're just practicing tennis. He's my friend."

"Friend?" Harumi replied incredulously. She then held up his wrist. "What 'friend' would harm another friend on purpose?"

Eiji gently extricated his hand. "He's helping me. I'm glad he's doing this, because if he doesn't, I won't learn."

"Learn? Learn what?"

Eiji wet his lips, trying not to look into her eyes and started walking away from the court. Harumi strutted right beside him. "Learn what Eiji? What could you possibly learn from the likes of him?"

"Look, just... can you let it go? And don't tell the others either about you saw. Please?" He pleaded, looking at her innocently.

Harumi skidded to a halt in front of him, stopping his advance.

_Yeah right, like playing cute can still work on me._

Except that it did. She felt her tone softening as she asked: "What's going on, Eiji?"

Eiji slowly wiped his sweat with the towel still around his neck. His eyes darted to her face, and then to his feet, and then back to her face.

Suddenly, Harumi's eyes widened. "I shouldn't be here…" she muttered anxiously as she peered around, afraid that Mai would pop out of nowhere.

Eiji closed his mouth and swallowed back the words that had been on the verge of flowing out of him.

"Yes. Why are you even here, Harumi?" He asked angrily.

"I..." Harumi backed down at his tone.

For a moment she had almost forgotten. She was suddenly very aware that they were alone together for the first time.

Eiji pushed past her and kept going. Harumi watched him leave, frozen on the spot, wondering what to do. After a few seconds, she ran after him, but he had already disappeared among the crowd at the turn of the next corner. Throwing back her head, she ran a tired hand through her hair and wearily turned around to walk back home. For the first time that day, her troubles concerning that look in Fuji's eyes were forgotten. But the new troubles that replaced the old ones were not that much better.

She was reminded of the thing with Fuji again when Amaya came home. But she didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she faked to be asleep and didn't answer when Amaya knocked on her door.

* * *

><p>"What? You're leaving in two weeks?" Harumi asked Naoko, who nodded sadly.<p>

"Yes. I only have one month of vacation, and that was already asking for a lot."

"Noooo, sister, you can't go." Naoki cried while holding on to her. Naoko sweatdropped a little and tried to push her off. "Moo, can you stop doing this in public?"

Naoki wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. "What's wrong with some public display of affection?"

"There's nothing wrong, but you are just faking yours!"

"OHH" Naoki exclaimed, clutching a hand to her chest. "You are so mean! Do you doubt my sisterly love for you? After all these years?"

"So, your program looks pretty hard Naoko." Amaya interceded promptly before Naoki could get more melodramatic than she already was.

"Well, skating isn't exactly a piece of cake. If you stop training, your adversaries will eat you alive at the next competition." Naoko wrung her hands nervously. "In fact, I'm starting to regret this one month of vacation. I know the other girls aren't taking any. I'm going to fall behind at this stage."

Chiharu grabbed her hand and forced her to stop wringing them. "It's alright. You are already twice as good as them, so all they will do in one month is catch up to you." She winked.

"What kind of skating do you do, Naoko?" Harumi asked after sipping her iced orange juice.

Naoko, Naoki, Chiharu, Amaya and herself were enjoying a girls' date on Sunday afternoon, when everyone was miraculously free from tennis practice, summer school and work at the same time.

"I do ice dancing." Naoko replied excitedly. "It's not all about the technique. It's also an art form."

"So… does that mean you have a partner?"

Naoko blushed. "Yes?"

"Oh my god!" Amaya exclaimed. "Come on Naoko, tell her all about your partner."

"What, is he hot?" Harumi asked, suddenly interested, while Amaya giggled excitedly.

Naoki swatted them both on the head with her napkin rolled into a tube. "Aren't you two ashamed of yourselves? You've both got boyfriends. What would Oishi and Fuji say if they could see you like this, hmm?"

Harumi massaged her head. "Well, they don't need to know, do they?"

Amaya winked. "Nope! So come on, Naoko, show us the PICTURE."

Naoko looked around with a pink shade to her cheeks and bit her lip while she slowly produced a picture from her wallet.

Chiharu snatched it away from her and examined it. "Heh! How come I've never seen this? Oh wow, he's so tall and fit!"

Naoki snatched the picture from Chiharu's hands. "Yeah, and he's got such nice grey eyes!"

Amaya snatched the picture from Naoki and pointed at his face. "Look at that face, Harumi! Isn't he the cutest thing? He could be a movie star with a face like that!"

Harumi peeked at the picture, and saw a pretty handsome young man, smiling at the camera. He had slightly curly blonde hair and a pair of intense looking grey eyes. He had his arms crossed and was visibly posing for the camera while standing tall on his skates. She nodded. "He's got a nice smile! You know… like one of those colgate smiles. If skating doesn't work out, he could always do ads for dentifrice."

Naoko snatched the picture back and huffed. "No such luck! He's a great skater. He knows how to lead on the ice. It's very easy to skate with him."

Harumi giggled. "Yes, I was kidding. You lucky girl! So, what's his name?"

"Kyon."

Harumi spat out the juice she'd just drank and burst out with laughter. "Kyon?"

"Yes, what?" Naoko asked defensively.

Harumi tried to stop laughing, but couldn't. Naoko glared at her, and also at the others, who were trying their best to hide their smiles as well. When Harumi finally calmed down, she wiped away tears from her eyes. "Well, no one's perfect."

"What's wrong with Kyon?" Naoko protested.

"Nothing, nothing, sister – Naoki patted her on the arm – it's an inspirational name. "And the winners of this round of ice skating are… Naoko and KYON"." She puffed behind her hand.

Naoko's eyes narrowed. Harumi was still snorting from her side of the table.

"Hey, how about we do a party to send Naoko off?" Amaya proposed quickly.

"Ehhh? Another party? – Chiharu complained – we just had one."

"What happened? You used to love parties." Harumi asked.

Chiharu waved her off. "I do. But two in two weeks? That's pretty… boring. How about we do something more original? It is summer after all."

"Do you have anything in mind?" Naoki asked.

"Well, on Sundays we are all free. And I'm sure one day of break for the boys from whatever they are doing can't hurt them. So how about next weekend we go on a trip?" She proposed excitedly.

"A trip? I'm not too sure." Naoki intervened carefully. "I'm kind of broke. I can't afford the ticket."

"It's okay, I can drive." Chiharu proposed.

"So can I but… - Naoki sighed – fine, where do you want to go?"

Chiharu hit a fist against her palm and smiled. "Well, that is the key question. It's still open for deliberation. But hopefully we will choose a place where I can get tanned. I need a beautiful complexion for the summer."

Naoko sighed. "I knew you weren't thinking of me when you proposed the trip."

Chiharu was offended. "Of course I did! It's for you to have fun with everybody! But I never said I couldn't benefit from it too."

"So? Any suggestions?" Amaya asked.

"How about… hiking?" Harumi suggested.

Chiharu frowned immediately. "Ummm, I was thinking more about a trip to the beach?"

"The beach is not original enough. And I hear you can get a better tan at the top of a mountain." Harumi confided seriously.

"What? For real?" Chiharu eyed Harumi's earnest eyes while the wheels turned inside her head. "Yosh! It's settled then! We will go hiking! Hooray!"

"Wait… what about our opinions?" Naoki protested.

"What, you have a better idea?"

"Well… not for the moment, but if you just let me…"

"Yosh, then it's settled then! We don't have time to waste. This requires preparation. And Amaya, Harumi, ask your boyfriends. They HAVE to come. If they do, the rest will follow. So I'm counting on you, okay?"

Amaya reluctantly nodded and turned to Harumi with a you-shouldn't-have-given-her-ideas look. Harumi shrugged and smiled apologetically. She had gone hiking once when she was in France and she had liked it.

In the meantime, Chiharu was continuing her excited rant. "… and canned food, and tents, because we will be at least spending one night there. I will google the nearest hikable mountain tonight and we will drive there next Friday. I'm sooo excited! I have been waiting for an opportunity to get away, and the more I think about this, the better of an idea it seems. This city can be so stuffing in the summer. You can barely breathe with all the activity going on here, don't you think? We will get fresh air up there at the mountains, and..."

Naoko raised her hand. "Waiter, we are done here." She muttered. "Seriously. It's supposed to be MY goodbye party but of course no one asks for my opinion…"

"It's okay, I know we don't indulge you much in here, but Kyon-san will make it up to you when you get back." Naoki whispered.

Naoko blushed. "No, it's not like that. We don't have that kind of relationship, okay?"

"… and that's that – Chiharu finally finished her rant and panted for air – okay, so… I have some place to be now. If you will excuse me… I will see you gals later!"

Chiharu squirted her way out of the table and dashed for the door.

"Well, looks like at least one of us is excited." Amaya sighed.

* * *

><p>Harumi and Fuji were walking together towards the tennis courts for an early morning practice. Instead of going through the residential area, they passed by downtown that morning. Harumi walked happily beside him with the soothing feeling of her tennis bag banging gently against her back at every step. It had been a few days since the "INCIDENT", like Harumi called it in her head now, and she had figured out that the best way to deal with this is to pretend it never happened, at least until she got to talk to Amaya about it. And to her surprise, it wasn't awkward with Fuji either, like she had feared.<p>

Since it was early, the streets weren't as crowded yet, and Harumi watched with interest as people were setting up their products out on their street stands to get ready for the day.

"So what are your plans for today, Harumi?"

Harumi grinned up at him. "Well, you know that hiking trip I told you about last night? I was thinking about buying some of the necessities. I don't have anything that I can use. I mean, I used to own a camping tent back in France, but I didn't bring it here. And you? Do you have anything going on after practice?"

She was thinking maybe they could do some shopping together, since she knew she was going to go back downtown for the ring. They haven't really had a real date yet, and she knew it was typically the boys who asked the girls first, but it didn't need to always be that way, right?

"I'm really sorry Harumi, but I have something going on with my photography club."

"The one you joined in high school?"

Fuji nodded, and his lips spread out in a smile. Getting animated, he explained. "Yes! I'm in charge of the club along with two of my other classmates. And since we are all going to Tokyo University, we were thinking of going to various places during the summer and take pictures to use as an introduction to our new club at the university. What do you think?"

One of Fuji's other main passions beside tennis was photography, and she was happy to see him this enthusiastic.

"I think it's great! Where are you going this afternoon?"

"We are thinking of going by the river. Yuriko and Jiro want to take some pictures of the bridges."

"Yeah, it's pretty nice over there. Well, have fun!"

Fuji nodded excitedly and went on to talk about his beloved camera for awhile, how one had to catch the right angle with the luminosity, and how if he went on the bridge, he could take beautiful pictures of the river flowing into the center horizon. Harumi listened as they neared the boys' locker room beside the tennis courts.

"Show me the pictures you take, Syusuke!" Harumi asked.

"I will!"

They smiled at each other and Harumi balanced back and forth on the balls of her feet as she bit her lower lip. Fuji gently petted her head. "I'll go change now. See you on the courts."

"Yes! See you in a minute!"

She petted her own head where Fuji had touched her earlier, and then ran giddily to the girls' changing room. She went to her usual locker and started changing. Some whispering in the corner of the room caught her attention.

_Maybe it's the other girls? That's weird though. I thought it would be only me and Mai here today._

She had hesitated at coming because she didn't think spending the whole morning with Mai was going to be a mood lifter, but then she had brushed it off. She wouldn't run away from Mai anymore. But anyway, it was weird that there would be someone in the locker room.

Curiously, she turned and peered into the second row of lockers. All she saw at first was a hand tangled in shiny black hair, which she then recognized as belonging to Amaya.

"Stop it… let me change! Oishi…" Amaya whispered unconvincingly and then fell quiet when Oishi bent down to kiss her neck. He was sitting on the bench, and she was sitting on his lap, facing him, with one leg to each side. One of his hands was gently caressing her hair, his fingers sliding effortlessly between the strands of black; his other hand, Harumi noticed with a deep blush, was underneath her friend's half buttoned blouse, running up and down the bare skin of her back.

"Come on – he whispered against her neck as she shivered at the closeness of his breath – let me help you change."

"No… you aren't helping at all. Stop, Tezuka is going to get mad at you for being late."

Her hands were slowly travelling the sides of his torso, however, and she looked like she had no intention of letting him go anytime soon. Their lips met for a languorous kiss and as Oishi slightly bent over her to accommodate her better, Harumi caught a glimpse of her friend's bra. She stopped breathing. She wanted to get out of there, but she couldn't move.

Oishi removed his hand from inside her blouse and dropped it to her thigh as he slowly trailed a finger over the pale skin lurking from underneath her skirt. He then grabbing her leg and pulled her closer to him, never interrupting the kiss. Amaya moaned.

Feeling her heart beat at 200 per minute, Harumi finally managed to unglue her feet from the ground and quickly stepped away. Still not breathing, she started to run towards the exit, flushed and embarrassed at witnessing such an intimate moment. She had never seen Amaya nor Oishi touch each other this way. She felt guilty for having seen what was not supposed to be seen.

Her foot got caught in her tennis bag lying against the bench and she let out a small scream, literally flying out of the locker room and falling on her hands at the threshold of the door.

"Itaaa!"

* * *

><p>A few hours later found Harumi morosely sitting against the fence surrounding the tennis courts. Her right hand was bandaged, and because of that she hadn't been able to play. She unconsciously rubbed her hand as she watched Fuji and Takasan exchanging balls.<p>

The image of Amaya and Oishi making out flashed behind her eyeballs.

"Ahhhh!" She screamed. "I need to unsee this!"

"Unsee what?"

She whipped her head upwards, meeting the stern glance of Tezuka.

"Hello Tezuka-san!" Harumi saluted him calmly.

Tezuka nodded back. "Yamazaki, I don't know why you are talking to yourself again, but I'm glad you are still here. Do you think you can do me a favour?"

Harumi inclined her head curiously. "What kind?"

"Do you know where Atobe lives?"

Harumi frowned. She remembered the party that Chiharu and Atobe had organized together back in the days before she had left Japan.

"Yeah, I remember how to get there. Do you want me to go to his house?" She asked a little incredulously.

Tezuka pushed up his glasses. "If you don't mind. I was playing a match against him the other day and left my rackets at his place. Just now, one of the strings snapped on this racket, so I really need those other ones."

"Please don't mind me asking this Tezuka-san, but… why can't you go yourself? I don't even know Atobe that well. It would be awkward for me to just go knocking on his expensive marble doors out of the blue."

Tezuka's expression didn't change. "I have to be here to keep an eye on them, especially Kikumaru. He tends to slack off when no one is watching him properly. And I don't want Inui handing out his juices behind my back either."

Harumi threw him a glance. He wasn't their captain anymore, but he still acted like one. She guessed that was a good thing.

"That's not true though!"

"It is certainly very true. Inui has gotten worse lately."

"No, no… I don't mean Inui. I mean Eiji is not the type to slack off. He…"

She bit her lip, remembering their encounter at the public tennis courts. He had asked her not to say anything. She wondered if his friends really did not know about him playing with Kirihara after he was done practicing with them.

"Yes?" Tezuka prodded, a slight frown breaking his poker face.

Harumi swallowed and jumped up to a standing position beside Tezuka. "I mean look! He's doing his acrobatics and all. Ohhh there, he just jumped really high! – she exclaimed by pointing a finger at his figure – oh look! Kaidoh just lost the match against him! Does that look like slacking off to you, Buchou?"

Tezuka carefully stepped away to maintain some respectable distance between them. He cleared his throat: "He is working hard today," he admitted. "So will you go get my rackets from Atobe?"

Harumi sighed. It wasn't as if she had much to do here anyway. None of the boys wanted to practice with her, not even her own boyfriend. They all underestimated her too much just because she was a girl! Feeling grumpy, she humphed and strolled away. "Yeah, why not. See you later Tez!"

Tezuka's eye muscle twitched at the unsophisticated nickname.

It didn't take her long to find Atobe's mansion, but it did take her fifteen minutes to find the entrance. She strolled around the massive property, going down countless streets by following the protective fence around the mansion until she finally came upon the main entrance door. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and pulled on her shorts and tshirt, feeling awfully underdressed to be standing in front of such a place.

Suddenly, she caught some movement from the corner of her eye, and lifting her head, was shocked to find a girl huddled on one of the trees outside the mansion fence. Upon closer inspection, she recognized that girl as being Chiharu. Her red hair was pulled up and hidden underneath a cap. She was wearing huge sunglasses and a scarf that looked too hot for this weather.

Chiharu was holding on for dear life to one of the branches of the tree while at the same time stretching her neck to peek inside across the nearest window. Harumi carefully walked to the foot of the tree.

"Knock knock."

Chiharu looked down at her, alarmed, and let out a scream as her foot almost slipped from the trunk.

"Harumi! What the hell are you doing here!"

"Ano… I think I should be asking YOU that question?"

Chiharu quickly looked around and signalled for her to lower her voice.

"Get back. Don't just stand there!"

As Harumi complied, she jumped down from the tree and landed gracefully on her feet. Clearing her throat, she quickly looked around to make sure that no one had seen.

"Are you stalking Atobe?" Harumi asked.

"What?" Chiharu retorted indignantly. "Don't be absurd! Why would I stalk that useless, selfish and sorry excuse for a man?"

"Then… why else would you be perched on a tree near the windows of… I'm guessing his living quarters?"

Chiharu's eyes widened, before she let out a laugh. "Since I don't want you to see me as a crazy stalker, I guess I have no choice but to tell you." She got close to Harumi's face and seriously whispered : "But you can't tell anyone, deal?"

Harumi nodded.

Chiharu looked around her, and then reproduced a camera that she wielded proudly. "Atobe's father is apparently trying to make him take on the family business. But is Atobe really fit to be the successor? I mean, with his personality and work standard, the company would be in ruins in no time. That guy, apart from tennis and girls, can't take anything else seriously. He has a party going on in his mansion at least three times per week, and there's never alcohol and girls lacking during those parties."

The redhead rolled her eyes. "I heard he's preparing another one tonight. His father is overseas a lot, so he has no idea what his precious son is doing with his money back at home. I'm going to catch him right in the act with this – she shook the camera – and expose what kind of person he really is. Then his future will be done for." She smiled devilishly.

Harumi blinked. "But… why do you even care that much? I know you guys broke up, but is there a reason to hold such a grudge against him? Whether he's a playboy or an irresponsible successor, it's got nothing to do with you anymore…"

She took an involuntary step back as Chiharu's green eyes suddenly turned dark with rage. She had never seen such a scary expression on her friend's face before and she was taken aback.

"Don't say those things easily." Chiharu hissed with her fist clenched around the camera. "That person ruined my life. So I'm going to ruin his. He will know that he messed with the wrong person."

Harumi took another step back and her shoulder hit the button for the intercom by accident.

Both girls froze and stared at each other with eyes the size of saucers. Then Chiharu's rushed to push Harumi aside, but it was already too late as the buzzing echoes of the intercom died within the mansion.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chiharu exclaimed, sweating profusely underneath her cap and scarf.

"Sorry, that was…"

But Chiharu wasn't listening. She quickly put the camera back inside her bag, and then turned to leave.

At that moment the gate was pushed open by no other than Atobe himself.

"Good afternoon ladies." He greeted them politely, tossing his freshly washed grey blue hair to one side.

He eyed Chiharu up and down with amusement. "Oh my, quite a… interesting fashion style you've got going on there."

Harumi watched Chiharu's back, scared of what her reaction might be, but after a few seconds of silence, she turned around and her face reflected nothing of the feelings she had harboured before. She eyed Atobe haughtily and removed her cap and scarf. "Well, I can't trust anything that you find "interesting", so I will be taking off these fashion garments now."

Atobe chuckled. "Oh, you don't need to do that, because "interesting" was not really a compliment from my part. So you can keep them on."

Chiharu clenched her fist slightly, and then relaxed them again. "Are you really one to talk about fashion?" She stepped close to him and eyed the green shirt he was wearing with disgust. "Green really doesn't suit you. Who is the incompetent fool who chose his piece of clothing for you? You should fire them immediately." Fake surprise then overcame her features as she tapped a fist to her palm. "Oh wait! I forgot that you actually pride in dressing yourself! So I guess you can't fire that incompetent fool after all. You are stuck with him for life. Poor you."

A brief look of annoyance passed in Atobe's grey eyes, but then he chuckled mockingly.

"This shirt came from Spain. It is made of the best material. I'm sorry you are too unrefined to appreciate its true worth."

Chiharu smirked. "100% silk or some shit? I know exactly what its worth is. But quality is not everything. You can't wear something that does not fit you, for only rich fools do so, and end up looking like clowns."

Atobe just eyed her condescendingly. "No matter what you think of my fashion, at least I have dignity."

Chiharu quirked her eyebrows and Atobe smirked triumphantly. "You are so naïve, Chiharu. You should know by now that ore-sama has cameras all around my magnificent property. And just a few minutes ago, one of them picked up something very… peculiar."

His eyes fell on the tree that Chiharu was perched on before. The redhead paled, and then her cheeks flared up in anger and embarrassment.

"I don't know why you would even do such a thing – Atobe drawled – do you miss me that much?"

Chiharu looked down at her hands, which felt sticky from the dirt and vines from the tree trunk. Without looking at him in the eye, she walked past him and smashed her hand to his chest.

Atobe looked down at her face and saw two green eyes looking up at him in disgust. And then she walked away. Atobe looked down at his expensive shirt and saw dirty fingerprints on it. His face went livid.

"Hold it! – he yelled – how dare you ruin oresama's shirt! You will have to pay for it!"

Chiharu didn't even look back. "Cheer up, mister Ego, and please realize that I just did you a favour. Now you finally have an excuse to throw that disgusting shirt away."

Harumi looked between the both of them in bewilderment. They sure were far from the perfect and loving couple they once were. She saw that Atobe was about to chase after her in a fury, and quickly lashed out to retain him by the arm.

"Ano, Atobe-san…"

Atobe turned towards her and yelled "What!", before eyeing the place where her hand was still on his arm. Harumi quickly withdrew it.

"Ano… I came to see you."

"See me? Who the hell are you anyway?" He retorted coldly, eyes not leaving Chiharu's retreating back.

Harumi took a deep breath. "My name is Harumi Yamazaki. I am Fuji's girlfriend."

At these words, Atobe finally turned his full attention upon her, and this time his grey eyes were calm. He eyed her for a few seconds, and then a look of recognition passed across his face.

"Fuji's girl, huh? Didn't you leave a long time ago?"

"Yes. But I'm back now. For good." She added for good measure.

Atobe studied her face with one eye. "And what brings you here?" He asked while stepping through the gate of his mansion. Harumi quickly followed him.

"I came to retrieve the rackets that Tezuka left the other day."

"Mmm, Fuji's girlfriend and Tezuka's errand girl, huh?"

Harumi frowned but remained silent.

The gate clicked shut quietly behind them, and in the silence that ensued, Atobe's mocking voice asked:

"So does that mean you're sleeping with the both of them?"

"Excuse me?" Harumi exclaimed, in shock.

Atobe turned around and winked. "Don't worry, I won't expose you."

Harumi could feel her face heating up. "I am doing no such thing!" She yelled.

Atobe merely chuckled and motioned at her to follow him without looking back. Harumi stayed where she was for a few more seconds, just glaring at his back incredulously, before reluctantly following in his footsteps.

The gate closed behind them soundlessly. They walked on the paved pathway through the beautiful gardens. The naked Greek statues above the fountains spewed clear water from their bodies, creating a crystalline sound that enveloped the both of them. Even though the sound was pure and uplifting, Harumi found it hard to breathe as she followed the Lord of the manor into the house.

A butler came rushing forward the moment they stepped through the entrance.

"Atobe-sama."

"Please guide this young lady to the tennis courts. Now, if you will excuse me." He saluted her without really looking at her.

Harumi watched as Atobe disappeared at the corner of one of the many hallways, and made a face at his retreating back. He sure was a disagreeable person with a horrible sense of humour. She really didn't know how anyone could date him. Back in the days, she couldn't even tell if Chiharu was really serious about him. It always seemed that she was more interested in his money anyway. And now, seeing how much they hated each other, it seemed pretty obvious that they did not have a strong connection to begin with.

As she followed the butler, she wondered once again what might have caused them to split. Did Atobe grow tired of her constant demands? Or did she have enough of his arrogance? Chiharu and everyone else would always evade the subject, and now she had just said that Atobe had ruined her life. She wondered why she had said that. Her life seemed pretty perfect right now, with her modelling career kicking off, and on top of that she had been accepted into Tokyo University.

Harumi passed under majestic arches that she had a clear memory of. She had run through these halls once upon a time, and she had danced in the area that was now decorated as a private resting room with large couches and a big plasma blue-ray TV. Back then, she was desperately chasing after a man she thought she would never get, but now she had finally caught up with him. Fuji had waited for her, and now, he looked only at her, smiled only at her, and loved only her. She pressed a finger upon her lips to hide her smile.

Finally, they reached the tennis courts, and the butler directed her towards a black tennis bag sitting on the bench.

"Is this it, Miss?" The butler asked.

Harumi eyed the bag but she had no idea what Tezuka's rackets actually looked like. However, she doubted that Atobe or anyone else would leave their things on a bench like this. She shrugged and picked it up.

"Yes, I think so!"

The butler nodded curtly. "Anything else you would like me to do, Miss?"

She shifted on her feet, quite uncomfortable to be treated so formally. "Umm.. I don't think so. Thank you."

The butler bowed slightly and then opened the tennis court's door to her. She cracked a smile and then went through it. As she followed the butler back to the main entrance, she passed by Atobe's swimming pool. As she glanced inside at the quiet waters, the storage room at the far end held her attention for a second.

It had once been used to store cases of beer, when there had been a party in the mansion three years ago.

She must have stood there longer than she thought, just staring at the door of the storage room, because the butler was suddenly beside her again, inquiring:

"Is everything all right, Miss?"

Harumi batted her eyes, as though coming out of a trance. "Yeah… yes…"

She unconsciously brushed her lower lip with her thumb, and then turned away to follow the butler out of Atobe's mansion.

* * *

><p>Later that day, Harumi ran into Mai while she was shopping for the food that Amaya's Mom had asked her to buy.<p>

Mai's clear blue eyes widened a little when they caught Harumi's small wave. The two girls haven't really talked to each other ever since their conversation outside the restaurant.

"Are you cooking today?" Harumi asked her.

Mai looked down at the stack of potatoes in front of her before carefully picking out one. "Yeah. I'm making lunch for Kikumaru, since he's living by himself and all."

Harumi chewed the side of her cheek and smiled. "Ahh, that fellow is lucky to have someone like you looking out for him."

Mai kept on picking out the potatoes in silence. Harumi looked around awkwardly then signalled to the casher. "I'm going to go pay first."

Mai nodded.

Harumi sighed as she walked away; well that was definitely uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as she had dreaded. After all, they were both doing the right thing now, so there was nothing to worry about. After paying for her groceries, she stopped by the vending machine outside the supermarket and picked up a Ponta. Sitting down on the bench with her bags of purchases at her feet, she gulped down the cool drink eagerly.

A few minutes later, Mai came out also. Harumi saw her from the corner of her eye and waved goodbye. However, to her surprise, Mai also went to grab a Ponta and then sat down beside her.

"It's so hot every day." Harumi sighed after a couple of minutes of silence.

Mai nodded.

"Look – Harumi continued – I don't want us to… feel awkward every time we see each other. I'm glad we had that conversation last time. Don't worry, I will keep my promise because I know now that it is the right thing to do."

She played with a strand of her hair, and then smiled. "So take good care of Eiji, neh?"

Mai threw a quick glance at her, and her usually impassive face softened a little. "Yes, I will."

Harumi cheerfully tapped her feet together while staring up at the cloudless blue sky. "We are going hiking next weekend. You should come too, along with Eiji. It will be like old times, when everyone was together. Or almost everyone at least. Aika and Echizen are not here."

Mai blew a strand of hair away from her eyes. "I've heard of your hiking plans, but I don't know if I can go. They might ask me to work. One or two days are okay, but I heard that you guys will be camping there too, so how long will that take?"

"I don't know. We will have to see, I guess. But it will be really cool if you can come. You know Naoko is leaving soon. Just think of it as a get-together to send her off."

Harumi threw her empty can of Ponta in the garbage can next to her. "Think about it, okay? And give me a call when you decide. Do you have my number?"

Mai shook her head. The girls then proceeded to exchange numbers and email addresses.

"Oh, and try to get Eiji to come too. You never know what can happen during a hike." She winked at Mai meaningfully.

Mai just stared at her for a moment. "Alright, I will call you within the week."

"Well, I have to get going now." Harumi said after glancing at her watch.

The two girls bid each other goodbye and Harumi swiftly walked away, carrying her bags.

Mai sighed and watched the shadows dance on her shoes. She thought about what Harumi had implied about outdoor activities bringing people closer. This might be a good opportunity after all.

The sound of a can dropping into the garbage can pulled her from her thoughts.

"Mai-chan."

She lifted her head. "Oh, Oishi!"

The young man sat beside her in silence.

"Were you listening to our conversation?"

Oishi didn't answer. Mai closed her eyes for a moment before fluttering them open again, and there was now a hard glint of determination in them.

"Neh Oishi, I think I might need your help again. Will you help me?"

Oishi turned towards her and his eyes were hard. "No, Mai, you need to stop. I already regret what we have done and the lies we have told. I don't know why I even accepted to help you back then."

Mai grabbed his arm urgently. "You can't back out now, Oishi! It's too late! It was all for Eiji's sake! That's why we did what we did."

Oishi's gaze wavered uncertainly.

"Oishi – Mai spoke up coldly – if you want to call yourself his friend, you will do as I say."

* * *

><p><em>Helloooooooo! :) Thank you all for the reviews! And here's a new chappy. Lots of you were wondering why Kirihara was in the first chapter. Well, you will see! He's Eiji's friend for now, and he will be around in future chapters too. I hope you don't mind, cuz I also love Kirihara and his devil-ness LOL.<em>

_And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!_


	5. Hiking plans

**Hiking plans**

"You wanted to see me?" Harumi asked happily while running to Fuji, who was sitting on one of the swings. She looked around and recognized this as the park that they had gone to last time, after Harumi's welcome party.

Fuji patted the swing next to him, and Harumi let herself fall on it, swinging a little.

"You didn't sound too good on the phone. Did something happen?"

Harumi quickly thought back to Chiharu and Atobe, but didn't think she should be spreading that gossip around. "No, nothing. I think you just woke me up from my evening nap, that's why."

Fuji frowned a little. Wasn't it too late for a nap? And an evening nap at that? Was there even such a thing?

He pinched her cheek. "You lazy girl."

Harumi rubbed the spot sulkily. "Ita, that hurt."

Fuji smiled and reached into his pocket. "Here, something to make up for your interrupted nap."

Harumi looked at him questioningly, but then got distracted by how his hair shined dimly under the night lights. The moon was out tonight, and there were silver shadows dancing all around them on the ground.

She took the little plastic bag from him, and opened it. A small ring fell on her palm. She lifted it and a flash of red glinted on top of it. Recognition flooded her eyes. "This is…"

She turned to Fuji in surprise. That morning, before they went to the tennis courts, they had walked past downtown and she had tried on a ring with a red stone from an old lady selling jewellery on a street stall. She hadn't have enough money to buy it and had planned to go get it later, but here it now was, on her palm. Her features lit up in wonder as she quickly slipped the ring onto her middle finger. The red stone shone brightly under the moon. "Wahh, this is so pretty! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She turned to him and threw her arms around his neck. The chains of their swings clashed together, tinkling in the night. Fuji held her tight and smiled against her shoulder. He hadn't expected this to make her this happy.

"You're welcome, Harumi. It's just a ring."

"No, it's not just a ring! This is the first gift that you've given me."

She looked at it joyfully, her smile even broader than before. "I will treasure it forever!"

"I'm glad you like it."

Harumi deposited a swift kiss on his cheek and then stood up, twirling a little. Then, she threw a glance back at him and then sprinted away, laughing. Fuji looked startled for awhile, but then sprinted after her. "Running away, are we?" He called after her with a smirk.

Harumi dashed across the park, feeling her cheeks about to catch fire, but also feeling like she could fly into the night sky. Very soon, Fuji caught up to her and restrained her by the waist.

She laughed. "Let go!"

"Never."

She turned around to face him. His blue eyes looked almost silver under the moon. She had one second to marvel at how beautiful he was before his lips were on top of hers and her body suddenly felt like cotton candy about to melt. She tentatively returned the kiss and Fuji smiled against her lips.

She pulled back with a frown. "You taste like wasabi."

Fuji chuckled. "Do I?"

She glared at him severely, but then her features brightened up in a sly smile: "You want to know something funny? Wasabi doesn't taste so bad to me anymore," she said and then kissed him again.

* * *

><p>"Amaya, have you seen my hair brush?"<p>

Amaya entered Harumi's room and sweatdropped. Her friend was lifting the bed mattress to look under the bed. There were clothes on the bed, on the chair, hanging out of drawers. Empty water bottles were also scattered around the floor. Amaya zigzagged across her friend's belongings and disdainfully removed a bra hanging from her open laptop.

"Sheesh, no wonder you can't find anything in here."

"Ah, here it is!" Harumi exclaimed victoriously while pulling her pink hair brush from under her mattress. Amaya didn't bother to ask how the brush got in there in the first place.

"Seriously, you should clean up some time."

Harumi pouted. "But I do. It just goes back to this state within five minutes. After a few tries, I gotta say I give up."

Amaya flicked her on the forehead. "Baka! Clean up this mess immediately! And pack your stuff while you are at it. We are leaving the day after tomorrow after all."

Harumi's eyes brightened at that perspective. She was really looking forward to this trip with all her friends. The night before, they all had a group phone call to set up some last minute details. Basically, Amaya's parents had rented three cars for them and they would be driving to the Rokko Mountains. It would be approximately a three hours drive. There would be two tents for the girls and two for the boys, also provided by Amaya's parents.

Harumi looked around her room, which would have been spacious if not for the disorder now running rampage. "Neh, it must be nice to have such rich parents." She told Amaya while brushing her hair.

Amaya shrugged. "I guess, but I try not to depend on them too much."

"Yeah, I can understand that. It's funny though, when I first came to your house, I was surprised."

"Why is that?"

"Well, I mean it's true that it has three storeys, and a backyard, more rooms than you need… and the neighbourhood is pretty nice, but it's really… different from your manor."

Amaya giggled. "Yeah, this looks shabby in comparison, right? My parents own several manors in Japan. I've never understood the use of that. I mean, they are going to be empty most of the time. My parents say they are good investments. I guess they can make more money if they sell them now. But here in Tokyo, I told them I didn't feel too comfortable flaunting our fortune like that, so we got this house instead."

Harumi clapped. "Woahh, nice one Amaya! Your parents actually listen to you a lot, eh?"

"I rarely ask them for anything, so when I do, they almost always comply." Amaya answered with a wink.

Harumi let herself fall on the bed, and Amaya joined her. "You know you have to start packing right?"

The girl with honey hair nodded but made no move to do so. "But I mean, it's good not to flaunt your fortune. Some people can't help themselves though," she stated, trying to continue the previous conversation.

Amaya nudged her in the ribs. "Are you talking about Atobe?"

"Oh! How did you know?"

"Who else could it be? He's the king of flaunting."

The two girls laughed. Harumi chewed on her lips, and opened her mouth to ask about Atobe and Chiharu's peculiar feud, when Amaya sat up straight. "Ah, I almost forgot. I ran into Mai just now, and she told me that Eiji is not coming."

Harumi sat up too. "What? Why not?"

"Well, according to Mai, he's too busy practicing tennis."

The image of Eiji on the ground with Kirihara towering over him invaded her mind. She winced.

"Why is he practicing like crazy lately?" She mumbled.

Amaya shrugged.

"I mean – Harumi continued – I know he's hardworking and all, but it's not like he has any serious competitions in the near future, right? Is he aiming to be a professional? Naoki told me that he had applied to Tokyo U though."

Amaya watched her pensively. "He did apply, but I don't know if he got accepted."

Harumi was looking at her with big eyes. "He didn't get accepted? What, he doesn't have the grades?"

"Mmm, no I don't think it's that. He did pretty well in high school and all. I'm just saying that I don't know whether he got accepted or not. Maybe he did. I just never asked him about it, and he doesn't talk much about it either."

"I bet Oishi knows."

Amaya nodded. "Probably."

Harumi played with her hair absentmindedly, then grabbed her friend's arm. "Neh Amaya, can you ask Oishi about it?"

Amaya was stunned. "I… I guess." Then her eyes narrowed and she nudged Harumi playfully. "Why, are you worried about Eiji?"

"No…"

"Yeah, right!" Amanda cut her off sarcastically. "Harumi, if you are this worried, maybe you should ask Eiji yourself."

"What? – Harumi exclaimed - no, I can't possibly do that."

"Why not? Honestly, you guys not getting along is so… weird. I know, I know, the break up and all - she added quickly when Harumi threw her a pointed glance – but I mean, it's been three years, so you guys should at least talk about it, settle things down, so that I don't feel like it's snowing every time you two are in the same room."

Harumi groaned at her friend's accusatory tone.

"It's not SNOWING."

"Are you kidding? Sometimes it feels like a freaking blizzard."

Harumi rolled her eyes. "Whatever. He hates me now, and I don't want to talk to him and open old wounds, so it's better this way."

"Then you're okay with Eiji not participating in the trip? The whole point of this thing is to have everyone gather together to send Naoko off."

Harumi shifted a little uncomfortably. Amaya didn't sound playful now.

Harumi asked slowly: "Amaya, are you telling me to go ask Eiji to come?"

Amaya's serious face melted away, and she petted Harumi's head softly. "Smart girl!"

"There's no way I can do that." Harumi's voice was ringing with finality as she leaned her head out of Amaya's reach. It was her turn to get serious. There was that promise with Mai; she couldn't just break it that easily.

Amaya put her hands on her hips severely, suddenly reminding her of her mom. "Harumi, are you serious? You clearly still care enough about Eiji to ask me to ask Oishi to ask him about his application, but you are too chicken to go make up with him? You know Eiji, if you talk to him, he will come around for sure. He might be mad now but… he's entitled to it after how you treated him three years ago. Now that you're back, you don't even talk to him, so how do you expect him to react?"

"Amaya…"

Amaya put up a hand to instruct her to stop, but then, seeing the crestfallen expression on Harumi's face, her traits softened.

"Harumi…" she pronounced more gently, "all I'm trying to say is that you are here to stay now, and in the fall, you are going to Tokyo U and so might he! Are you really going to watch him from afar even then? Are you okay with losing a good friend just like this?"

Harumi rubbed her eyes painfully. "But if I talk to him it might make things worse. It might already be too late."

"Yes, that might happen – Amaya conceded softly – but at least you would have tried. Right?"

Harumi looked back up to encounter her friend's compassionate eyes.

"I… I don't know what to do."

Seeing Harumi's confusion, Amaya decided not to press her further. "Why don't you think about it?"

With that said, the raven haired girl quietly left the room, leaving Harumi sitting cross legged on the bed, staring emptily at the opposite wall. The image of Eiji smiling brightly back with his racket slung casually over his shoulder crossed her mind, and she longed to see him looking back at her that way again. She sighed heavily.

Thinking about Eiji always made her feel a mixture of happiness and pain.

_Why does my life turn complicated every time I come to Japan? Compared to this, life in France almost seems too trouble-free to be true._

At that moment, she suddenly remembered something her mom had told her once. She had said that the people one cares about the most in this world are also those that will bring us the most pain.

"_Because you are too invested in them. You want to hold on to them, and every little thing they do will make your heart pound and waver. But you know what? That's not necessarily a bad thing. Those feelings are the real proof that you deeply care for them."_

Harumi stood up and rummaged through her closet until she came up with a framed picture of her Mom and Dad on their wedding day. "Mom, what should I do?"

* * *

><p>Harumi was on the phone with Fuji when the doorbell rang.<p>

"Syusuke, I gotta go!"

"All right. I will see you tomorrow then."

"Yes!" Harumi answered excitedly while running down the stairs towards the main entrance.

She hung up and opened the door and… almost had her foot crushed by a watermelon.

"Ah, sorry about that." Came Naoki's voice from behind a box of watermelons that Kaidoh was having extreme effort holding up.

"Can we… come inside?" Came Kaidoh's strained voice.

Harumi deadpanned and then shifted aside. "Yeah, come on in!"

As Kaidoh stepped in and deposited the box on the ground with a groan, Naoki closed the door behind them and asked : "Where is Amaya?"

"She went out a couple of hours ago. What's up with these watermelons?"

"Ah, my aunt from the countryside sent them to my parents. As usual, she went overboard – Naoki face palmed while recalling this – she sent us a whole TRUCK of watermelons. I mean… do we look like a watermelon market to her? We can't eat all this. So we are giving them out."

Harumi eyed Kaidoh's disgruntled face and figured Naoki must have made him help her via some means.

Naoki looked around the house. "Well, I guess we will leave four here."

Harumi nodded. "Alright, thanks! I'm sure Amaya and her parents will appreciate it too."

Naoki rolled four out of the box and instructed Kaidoh to carry them to the kitchen. Harumi served them both some ice tea, and they talked for awhile about their upcoming trip.

"The cars will be here tomorrow at 8 – Harumi said – so we should all meet here. Have you decided on who will be driving?"

"Momo wanted to drive, but I don't trust that fool one bit. The safest bet is Tezuka." Naoki answered with a chuckle.

"Good choice." Harumi agreed with a chuckle of her own.

"So Harumi, if you are free today, can you PLEASE help us finish distributing these watermelons?"

Harumi stared at the blinding sun outside and desperately tried to come up with some excuse. "Ah, today is a little.."

"Please! I will let you have all the marshmallows tomorrow!"

Harumi sweatdropped. "No, really, there is something going on today. Syusuke said…"

"... come on, please! We won't finish by sunset at this pace." She glared in Kaidoh's direction, who glared back just as evilly.

Harumi sighed. "Fine, let me go change."

"Thanks Harumi, you're the best!" Naoki hugged her tight.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them set out, with Kaidoh carrying the box, and each girl pulling a small cart. Harumi could feel the sun tapping hard against her skull, and she congratulated herself on thinking to put on some sunscreen before leaving. She really didn't feel like burning her skin just before the trip. Fuji said that he would be taking a lot of pictures, so she wanted to be ready to be photographed in a way that will not make her want to tear the pictures down when she looked back on them later.

They went to see Oishi, Tezuka, Chiharu and Takasan.

Harumi was actually truly scared for a second that Naoki might hug Takasan to death when he agreed to accept most of their load. "In this hot weather, I'm sure the customers will appreciate a cool dessert like this." Takasan had said.

He was always so considerate.

In return, he gave them all some take out sushi, which improved Kaidoh's mood considerably. Momo and Mai weren't home when they went to visit. As they rested on a bench near a park, Naoki stretched her legs. "Oh my god, I feel like I've already hiked a mountain today."

"Fsssh, this is worse than hiking."

"Think of it as a work out, Kaidoh." Harumi proposed.

Kaidoh was thoughtful at this. "Mmm, but usually I work out in better company."

Those words earned him a beating from Naoki. "Seriously, can that mouth of yours spew anything other than poison? No wonder they call you the Viper."

Kaidoh gritted his teeth and looked like he was going to punch her, but she stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, unafraid. With one last hiss, Kaidoh turned around and left.

"Mamoushi… I mean Kaidoh! How dare you leave! We still have one box of watermelons left! Kaidoh! KAIDOH!"

"Good job on driving him away." Harumi commented with one hand over her forehead.

Naoki put her hands on her hips and mumbled something. "That's alright! We only have to go visit Eiji and then we are done."

Harumi tensed a little at those words, and then shrugged. She wouldn't be seeing him alone, so all was fine.

Except that it wasn't.

As soon as they reached Eiji's doorstep, Naoki got a call from her twin sister and had to leave. "Don't worry Harumi, we are here already. Just hand him all the watermelons that are left and you can go home. Thanks a lot for today! See you tomorrow!"

Before Harumi could break her state of speechlessness, Naoki had already disappeared.

"N…N…Naoki!" She called out desperately as she reached out for her with one hand.

Then, she stared down dumbly at the two watermelons in the box at her feet, and slowly lifted her gaze to rest on the wooden door of the Kikumaru household.

She took a step back to look at the house. It was enclosed behind a light blue fence. The kitchen and living room were on the first floor, and the bedroom area was on the second floor. She lifted her head and contemplated the upper window, which she knew gave into Eiji's room. A little garden with flowers lay in front of the main door; the fragrances reached her nose when a light breeze blew in her direction. She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear nervously when she noticed the red sports car parked on the street next to the house.

_So Eiji is probably home. _

She glanced up at his bedroom window again. The curtains were drawn. She quickly pushed the box of watermelons closer to the door with her foot, and then her finger hovered hesitantly on the doorbell.

_What to do? Isn't this breaking my promise with Mai? But I can't possibly just ring the doorbell and then leave… OMG, yes I can! I'm a genius! That's exactly what I will do._

She inspired once, then twice, then pressed the button. Before the characteristic buzzing sound was done ringing throughout the house, Harumi was already running towards the fence. It reminded her of the pranks she used to pull on her neighbours when she was little. She would ring their bell and then run away across the street as fast as she could and then hide behind a tree or a car to silently chuckle at the neighbours when they opened the door and peered right and left in confusion.

But now there was no feeling of amusement in her chest, only panic.

She opened the fence precipitately while throwing a last glance above her shoulder at the still closed door.

The next second found her sprawled on her behind after colliding against something.

"Ita, ita." She rubbed her ass in slow circles as an orange collided against her hand.

Lifting her head, she paled considerably when she saw Eiji's dark blue eyes cast down upon her figure on the ground. Half of his groceries were on the pavement all around her. A blush quickly spread across her cheeks till it reached her ears.

_This is the worst! How could this happen!_

Eiji's eyes were bright but unreadable. She fumbled to help him put his groceries back into his bags. One bottle of tomato sauce had broken into a red mess upon hitting the ground, so that was unsalvageable. "I'm sorry, really sorry." She mumbled all the while.

"It's okay – Eiji replied – let me do it."

When everything was put back, along with the broken shards of the bottle, Harumi wiped her hands on her jeans as she darted nervous glances in his direction. She still couldn't get over how tall he had grown over the last couple of years. He was really towering over her now. Maybe that's why she felt so intimidated. She also hoped that he hadn't seen her antics in front of his house, but at the way he eyed the watermelons and yet didn't ask any questions, that hope died a fairly rapid death.

Since he didn't say anything more, she hesitantly followed him to his doorstep. "I helped Naoki bring over some of the watermelons that her aunt sent her from the countryside."

"Thanks." Eiji simply said. He fumbled awhile for his keys, and then finally unlocked the front door.

"You want me to uh… help you carry them inside?" Harumi had no idea why she had said that, and she repressed a wince even though Eiji had his back to her and couldn't see her face.

Eiji put down the groceries inside and then turned around to carry the watermelon box inside as well.

"Oh." She said, feeling dumb, and stuck her hands in her pockets.

Her wandering gaze found his and she quickly looked away. "I guess… I will be going now."

"Do you want to come inside for awhile? It looks like you've been walking all day. I have some cool drinks in the fridge." He proposed.

Her eyes shot up to his face and her jaw dropped a little upon seeing a slight smile on his lips. It was tight and awkward, but it was also the first smile directed at her since she had been back to Japan! Feeling encouraged, she promptly nodded and accepted his invitation.

As she stepped in and Eiji closed the door behind her, Mai's face floated an instant in front of her eyes, but she punched that image away resolutely. She was so thirsty she thought she could die. Mai should understand that this was an emergency situation. Harumi would leave immediately after having her drink.

However, she couldn't deny the fact that she was thrilled right now at the perspective that maybe Eiji didn't hate her that much after all. Maybe, just maybe, Amaya was right and it wasn't too late for their friendship to be reborn from the ashes.

Harumi looked around the living room; everything looked clean and sparkly, contrarily to what she had imagined. She knew for a fact that she sure as hell wouldn't be able to keep her house this clean if she were living by herself.

However, something about the atmosphere made her uncomfortable. Somehow, it was a little too clean.

She quickly followed after Eiji, who was already in the kitchen and pouring juice into two tall glasses.

"Ice?" He asked.

"Y-yeah, that'd be nice."

She eyed his shoulders as he worked; he had really gained more muscles and frame, maybe due to all the intense tennis training. He seemed familiar and yet foreign at the same time. She couldn't believe that this was the guy who used to jump-hug everyone back in the days. He sure had become more restrained now. Watching him drop ice cubes into the glasses, he somehow seemed more adult than all of them, and she didn't know what to think of that.

She suddenly realized that he was holding a glass out to her, looking at her quizzically. Embarrassed, she quickly took it, mumbled a "thanks" and finished half of it in one go, exalted at how cool it made her feel inside. She sighed and thought that this was probably the best orange juice she'd had in her entire life.

Eiji was still looking at her, taking small sips from his own glass.

"I heard that you live by yourself now." Harumi said, looking around the place.

Eiji saw the expression on her face. "It's not so bad. I have a lot more freedom to do whatever I like."

She didn't ask him if he got lonely, because that was kind of a stupid and rhetorical thing to ask. Instead, she pointed to the groceries. "And you cook too?"

Eiji scratched the back of his head, and nodded. "I was cooking breakfast for my family before already, so this is not that big of a change."

Harumi remembered running into Mai at the supermarket the other day, and how she had said that she cooked for Eiji sometimes. She wanted to ask Eiji about it but then refrained herself. It seemed like it was none of her business.

"You are all grown up now." Eiji looked up at the soft tone in her voice. His eyes were still unreadable when he said : "We all grow up sometime."

Harumi put the empty glass inside the sink, lost for a moment in contemplation of the garden outside the window.

Then she tapped her hands against her legs. "Well, thanks a lot for the juice! It feels like it just saved my life. I was seriously dying before. I should get going!"

She smiled at him as she walked towards the main door. In actuality, she had a lot of things she wanted to ask him: how was the rest of his family doing, whether he got into Tokyo U, why he was playing tennis with Kirihara, and most importantly, where did the two of them stand now? But she didn't ask any of those questions, because she had promised Mai, and because Eiji's unreadable eyes were making her very uncomfortable. She wished she could see through him like she used to.

Eiji nodded and walked her to the door.

"One last thing though…" She turned around, but then stepped back upon seeing how close he was. She hadn't heard him getting this close, and it shocked her to suddenly stare right into his eyes.

"Um…" She struggled to remember what she was going to say, and then remembered: "This weekend we are all going to hike the Rokko Mountains. I heard that you're not coming because you want to practice tennis, but I really think you should."

And suddenly Eiji's eyes were not unreadable anymore, but surprised. Harumi stared.

"You don't mind me being there?"

_What an odd question to ask._

"Of course not! We are all sending Naoko off, and I just want… I want everyone to be there."

The redhead sighed. "Camping… huh? It might take too long. And I do have tennis…"

"No more than four days, I promise." Harumi said. "And besides, you already practice tennis more than enough."

Seeing the severe expression on her face, Eiji knew she was alluding to his sessions with Kirihara.

"Have you told…"

"Of course not!" Harumi cut him off indignantly. "Since you told me not to tell, I didn't. But I can't promise I will keep silent much longer, unless you tell me the reason why you are doing this…"

She trailed off when she saw Eiji fixing her shoes as though they were the most exciting thing in the world.

_Really, what am I going to do with him?_

"You will have to tell me someday, you know that? For today I will stop with the harassing because I'm still too grateful for the drink, but I haven't given up on knowing."

Eiji cracked a smile at her warning tone. "Maybe one day I will tell you."

Harumi's glare lasted for about two seconds longer before melting into an indulgent sigh. She stepped outside into the hot afternoon air.

"Anyway, just come tomorrow." She pleaded softly. "We are meeting in front of Amaya's house at 8 in the morning."

Purple eyes searched dark blue ones, but he was still looking down. Harumi stared at him awhile longer and then turned to leave, sprinting down the street and jumping above the puddle of tomato sauce.

When she was out of sight, Eiji closed the door and quietly whispered to the wood: "Okay."

The next morning everyone was delighted when Eiji showed up. Mai and Oishi exchanged surprised glances, but then Mai finally ran up to him. "I'm so glad you changed your mind!"

"Yay, now everyone is together!" Chiharu clapped.

"I'm so glad you guys all made time for this." Naoko exclaimed, clearly touched. "I miss all of you already."

"Hai, hai, keep the tears for after the trip, neechan!" Her twin sister said while wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Harumi smiled broadly when she crossed Eiji's gaze, but he just gave her a small wave. Harumi felt happier that she thought she would be at the perspective that Eiji was coming along. She felt more than saw Amaya's approbatory gaze directed at the back of her neck. What she missed though, was Mai's suspicious glance in her direction from her spot beside Eiji.

Momo was presently marvelling at the three cars parked in front of their houses. He was literally hyperventilating as he jumped from one car to the other, religiously touching them and observing them under all angles.

"This is soooo cool!" He exclaimed while turning an incredulous look towards Amaya, who had provided them. Amaya blushed at that and then quickly clapped her hands together to demand the attention. "Since everyone is here now, listen up!"

At Amaya's voice, the conversation around them died down a little. Harumi turned away from the twin sisters, to whom she was talking to, and went to stand by Fuji's side after exchanging an excited glance with him. This would be their first trip together as a couple.

The morning air was a little chilly on her bare arms, but she rubbed it off excitedly, paying attention to what Amaya was saying.

"My parents were nice enough to rent us some really awesome cars for the trip!"

Momo hooted at those words and yelled out excitedly, soon followed by some others. Amaya raised a hand to demand silence, and then proceeded: "I'm sure you guys are all dying to drive them, and I know no amount of debate can decide on the drivers, so we will let luck decide."

Naoki quickly jumped forward and looked at them all mischievously. "Yeah, Amaya and I prepared these straws last night. The six people who pull out the shorter ones are the ones who will be driving."

"Six people?" Mai asked with a frown. "But there are only three cars."

"One person will drive it there and another will drive it back here." Amaya explained. "I suppose you all have your license?" She asked the latter question while eyeing Harumi.

Harumi blinked. "Well, I do, but I haven't driven in awhile, so I'm not sure how well…"

"That's fine, you can have someone beside you to help you out if you want."

"Well, only if I win this." Harumi quickly said.

To be honest, she wasn't that crazy about cars, so it didn't matter to her if she won or not. Fuji, however, looked excited by her side.

"If I win, I will let you drive." She told him.

Fuji smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Are you sure you will want to waste that opportunity? I can teach you, if you want."

Harumi felt her heart flutter a little. Being taught by Fuji could be fun. "Okay." She relented.

Naoki reproduced a bottle from beside her with straws in them, and asked everyone to gather.

"Ok, we will start with the Jeep Cherokee."

The Jeep Cherokee was grey silver, and it shone beautifully under the early morning sun. It was big, but looked agile, with massive and solid black tires. Momo eyed the straws hungrily, groaning when Kaidoh pushed him aside to get to the straws as well.

Even Tezuka was fretting a little, his glasses shining menacingly. Chiharu also had a determined expression in her green eyes; her red hair shone fiercely under the sun when she impatiently pushed it behind her shoulders. Eiji, despite his height, easily flexed around everyone to get closer to Naoki and the convoluted straws.

There were only two short straws for this round, and after everyone fought to snatch them out of the bottle, Naoki looked around for the winners. Tezuka and Naoko had both grabbed the shorter straw. Naoko let out a little scream of joy and then shyly clasped a hand to her mouth. Tezuka simply smiled that knowing smile of his.

"Congrats neechan!" Naoki said.

"Too bad." Fuji mumbled. Harumi gave him a comforting clap in the back. "Don't mind, we'll get lucky for the next round! Just watch!"

The second car was a black Nissan Titan, with an open platform at the back where all their camping equipment could go. Chiharu and Kaidoh both got the shorter straw for that one. They screamed and laughed, and high fived each other, then Kaidoh even did a few lapses around the place. Harumi had never seen him that happy.

_Who knew that a few cars can bring these guys out of their usually cool and emotionless shell? _

By now, Momo was whimpering miserably.

"This can't be, it just can't be."

"And the last car – Amaya announced – is the Dodge Viper."

Harumi's jaw hung open. It really was a beauty, even for someone like her who didn't care about cars. The Dodge Viper was a red convertible, with two black stripes in the middle, running from the front of the car all the way to the back. The car's front lights seemed to be glaring fiercely at all of them.

"Amazing!" Chiharu let out.

Eiji whistled. "Woah, I really want to drive this one nya!"

Harumi whipped her head at him. He was staring at the car with childlike wonder and gleaming eyes. For a moment, it felt like the old Eiji was back one hundred percent, like Inui would say.

Fuji touched a finger to his chin, his blue eyes serious.

"The ambiance is so tense now." Chiharu whispered to Harumi. "These guys don't even look at us the way they look at that car."

Harumi chuckled. That much was true.

When Naoki gave everyone the green light, hands shot to the straws from all sides, ripping them from the bottle and even from each other.

"Hey! That was mine!" Momo yelled at Takasan.

"No way!" Takasan pushed Momo back with his chest, looking angry even without holding a racket.

Naoki peeked at the straws that they were holding. "Well it doesn't matter who got which, since you guys both picked long straws." She walked away, leaving Momo staring at his straw with an expression of utmost horror while crying in anime fashion.

Harumi couldn't believe it. "Um… I-I think I got it."

She snatched the straw that Fuji held in his hand and compared hers to his. There was no mistake. Hers was indeed shorter. She rose disbelieving purple eyes at him. "Wow."

"YES, YES, YES!" Eiji was doing some crazy acrobatics on the cars. "I got it! I get to drive the Dodge Viper! Hoi!"

Mai smiled at him. "Congratulations!"

Eiji smiled with all his teeth and closed one eye. "Ha-ha, my luck is as always, unbeatable!" His eyes fell on the straw that Harumi was holding and his mouth formed a perfect O.

Harumi laughed out loud at his expression.

"You got it too!" He shouted while coming over to inspect her straw. She nodded with a big grin, which faltered a little when he suddenly leaned forward as though to hug her or something. His smile faltered as well when he realized what he was about to do. He caught himself at the last minute and held back abruptly, swinging awkwardly in mid-air for a second before falling back on the balls of his feet.

"G-good for you!" he simply told her instead, and then ran off to inspect the Dodge Viper.

"Well, at least one of us got it." Fuji said from behind Harumi. His voice startled her a little and she turned quickly towards him and stuffed the straw in his hand. "Well, you can drive it. I know you want to! It would be a waste to leave it to someone like me."

Fuji's closed his fingers around the straw, his blue eyes set on her seriously. "Don't take the words back."

"I won't." She giggled. "It's all yours."

Momo came crawling to Harumi with tears in his eyes. "Haruuuumiii – he whimpered – I wish I could be your boyfriend right now!"

Harumi petted his spiky hair. "If you are nice, maybe I will let you drive it for a little while too."

Momo got up way too fast for human speed. "SERIOUSLY?"

Harumi stared at him, and he stared back, gulping. Then, she ceremoniously nodded.

"OH MY GOD!" Momo almost crushed her ribs with his arms when he hugged her. "YAMAZAKI, I COULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW."

Fuji put a hand on Momo's arm and cleared his throat.

"I was joking, Fuji-senpai!" Momo didn't even look embarrassed, however. The grin he wore looked like it would never go away.

"You better listen to me well then, Momo." Harumi let out playfully.

"Yes, yes, whatever you need!"

So Harumi elegantly let him help her carry her bags to the car.

After that, they all stuffed their camping tents, camping gear, hiking gear and road food at the back of the Nissan. The rest of the miscellaneous belongings went to the back trunk of the Jeep. Then, Chiharu, Tezuka and Eiji were appointed the drivers. Eiji was doing a little happy dance.

Kaidoh, Naoki, Momo and Takasan boarded the Nissan, with Chiharu already behind the wheel, her hands eagerly fluttering from the commands to the radio. Naoko, Amaya, Oishi, Fuji and Harumi went to the Jeep. Amaya threw the keys to Tezuka and declared gravely: "Don't let your guard down, Tezuka." Everyone laughed.

Eiji was already sitting behind the wheel of the Dodge Viper, babbling about how pretty it was. Since the Dodge could only fit two people, Mai was the only other person who boarded it. "I wonder how fast this can go." Eiji looked a little wild, and Mai suddenly regretted boarding the vehicle with him.

"Please don't go too fast!" She pleaded. She wasn't sure that Eiji heard her, because the sound of the motor as it came to life was a deafening vroommm.

"Looks like someone is eager to go." Naoko laughed behind her hand.

"He doesn't even know where to go, I bet. Chiharu should lead the way. She googled the map last night."

"Alright boys and girls - Chiharu yelled with her head outside the window - buckle up and follow me. I hope you have everything, because we are saying goodbye to civilization for a couple of days. You guys ready?"

"YES!" Everyone screamed at her in return.

Then the Nissan and the Jeep both roared to life; the Nissan's lights blinked three times before it silently glided down the road. The Jeep, and then the Dodge followed.

Harumi stared out the window excitedly, feeling the wind on her face when the car started picking up speed.

_Wow, the first trip I'm having with my friends here in Japan! It really feels like I have never left at all!_

She caught Fuji smiling at her from the seat next to hers, and she beamed back excitedly.

In the Dodge Viper, Mai watched as Eiji put on his sunglasses and then expertly manoeuvred the driving wheel as he stepped on the gas pedal. She took in a deep breath. She had waited for him for three years already, and it was time to make the next step. This trip would be the beginning for them, she would make sure of it.

* * *

><p><em>Voila! :) R&amp;R please!<em>


	6. The Hike

**The Hike**

They've been driving for an hour now and Harumi was starting to be really fed up with the loud singing coming from Amaya and Oishi.

"Moo, you've sung that song three times already." She yelled above the ruckus.

Amaya turned back. "Alright, alright. Then how about you grace us with a song of your own? Do you know any popular French tunes?"

"Je t'aime, je t'aime, tu es l'amour de ma vie." Oishi sang with a terrible accent, which earned him a serious tap on the head from the magazine that Amaya was holding, and an amused glance from Harumi.

Tezuka looked at them reprovingly from the rear view mirror. "Why do you have to be so noisy?"

"Yes, you guys should let Tezuka-san concentrate on his driving." Naoko declared too softly for anyone to actually hear her, but Harumi did hear her.

She elbowed Fuji, who had been pretty silent during the trip. She wanted to ask him if he thought Naoko still had feelings for Tezuka. After all, Naoko now seemed to have a new hot guy in her life in the form of her partner skater, but no one could forget their first crush that easily.

However, when his boyfriend's eyes came to rest on hers, she saw that he was troubled.

"Daijoubou?" She asked instead. "You seem pretty silent."

Fuji frowned. "I forget if I brought my camera. I might have left it at the club yesterday. Ah, such an important thing… how can I not remember whether I put it in my luggage?"

Harumi thought that the way his forehead wrinkled while he was frustrated was really adorable. She rummaged through her purse and reproduced an orange camera. "Tada! We can always use mine."

She pouted at the way he looked down on it. "Don't act all condescending towards my camera Fuji Syusuke! It might not be as professional as yours, but it can take pictures all the same. Here, smileee!"

She raised the camera to her eye and pressed on the button. There was a flash.

Harumi quickly pressed the view button to look at the picture, and puffed upon seeing Fuji's surprised and still unconvinced face in the picture.

"What? – Fuji asked – show it to me."

"Never. Weren't you looking down on my camera? Well, I won't show you ANYTHING that I take with it." She stuck out her tongue at him.

Fuji tried to wrestle with her for the camera, but Harumi moved away, laughing, until Fuji couldn't reach her anymore because of his seatbelt.

Amaya was peeking at them with amusement. "Hai, hai, stop with you antics, you lovebirds."

"No fighting in the car." Tezuka added.

Harumi laughed. "Why aren't you guys busy singing? Don't pay attention to us."

Amaya sighed and turned back to look outside the window. A second later, she felt Oishi's hand on hers, and turned to smile at him.

Oishi directed a look at Harumi and Fuji, still making faces at each other, and then whispered to Amaya: "Neh, they look really happy eh?"

Amaya removed her hand from his and crossed her arms. "What, you make it sound like they are the only happy couple here."

Oishi sighed. "You know that's not what I mean."

"No, I don't know." Oishi looked up at Amaya's cold tone, but saw her looking at him with one eye, her lips curved up in a smile, and knew that she was teasing him. He decided to play along.

"You sure are cold today, Amaya," he whined.

"Well, whose fault is it?" She took a deep breath. "But you are right. I'm so happy for Fuji and Harumi. We all know how hard they had to work to reach the place they are at today. They deserve it, and I kind of admire them for that. Their feelings for each other didn't waver, even after staying apart for so long."

Oishi looked at her profile for a long time. "We would have done it too." He said.

"Done what?"

"The long distance thing. Even if you go somewhere far away, I will always wait for you, I swear."

Amaya turned, surprised by how serious and earnest his green eyes looked. Her features softened. "Me too."

There was a click when she unbuckled her seatbelt. She moved closer to him till their thighs were touching. Oishi still found his breath to hitch when she looked at him this way, even after all this time. He slowly slid a hand through her thick black hair, feeling their silkiness through his fingers. Amaya smiled sweetly and then leaned in for a kiss.

Tezuka and Naoko both turned their eyes away from the rear view mirror with a slight blush.

The car was suddenly silent as everyone had heard their confession.

"Seriously, you guys!" Harumi whispered with a roll of her eyes, but she was smiling.

She found Fuji looking at her, and a little fire started burning in the pit of her stomach as she suddenly wondered whether he was thinking of doing the same thing with her. Her hand hovered above her seatbelt.

_How embarrassing though! I know some couples don't mind because they can pull it off without appearing cheesy, like Amaya and Oishi. But I don't think I could ever do it! Yeah, better not do anything. But… but… what if Fuji wants me to? What if he wants me to right now?_

She bit her lip, but he wasn't looking at her anymore. She didn't know whether she felt relieved or disappointed at that.

"So – she suddenly said to Fuji – you went to your photography club yesterday?"

Fuji nodded. "We wanted to look at our pictures before I went on this trip. Yuriko-chan told me to take plenty of other pictures on our trip since this is such a good opportunity to come upon great scenery. That's why I'm worried about whether I brought my camera or not."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you have it here. Sometimes, when I leave the house, I wonder whether I left the lights on, or the TV on. I don't remember either leaving them on or shutting them off, but when I get home, they are usually off."

Fuji frowned at her. "Usually?"

"Usually is pretty good, don't you think?"

"There's always room for improvement, then." He teased.

When they arrived at the parking lot at the foot of the Rokko Mountains, the weather was pretty windy, and the clouds defiled quickly across the sky above their heads.

When Harumi and the others stepped out from the Jeep, they saw Eiji's car already parked in front of them. Mai waved and ran towards them. Her face looked slightly pale.

"We've been waiting for awhile." She said in guise of greeting.

"Did Eiji speed up here?" Oishi asked with worry.

Mai nodded and hugged herself, shuddering. "It was pretty horrible."

"Where is he now?" Amaya asked, looking around for the redhead.

"He went to get us some drinks. What happened to Chiharu's group?"

They looked back towards the route, but the Nissan was nowhere in sight. "I hope they didn't get lost."

Harumi nodded and rubbed her arms energetically, trying to warm them up a little against the chilly wind.

"Brrrr, it's really cold in here." Amaya said while snuggling up to Oishi, who was the only smart person of the group and was wearing a jacket.

Oishi unzipped his jacket and let Amaya put her arms around him, sinking into the warmth of the jacket and his body. Then he zipped up the jacket again around the both of them. Amaya laughed and tried to make him lose balance by swivelling from one foot to the other. "Stop it, we are going to fall!" Oishi warned worriedly when his feet got tangled with hers. Only his quick reflex of bending forward prevented him from falling on his ass with Amaya on top of him.

"Are you cold, Harumi?"

Harumi blinked and looked away from Amaya and Oishi to smile at Fuji. "Yeah. I think I'm going to get my sweater." As she was leaving, she caught a peculiar expression on Fuji's face, and slapped herself internally.

Maybe he had wanted to cuddle too.

But it would be awkward to just go back and hug him, so she kept walking to the Jeep instead with a sigh and started rummaging through her bags. It was a good thing that she had gotten rid of her habit of putting her entire house in her luggage when she went somewhere. After all, Amaya had made her repeat 30 times "one has to travel light while hiking" the night before when they had been packing.

"Did the others get lost?" Tezuka asked, his glasses glinting in displeasure at the lack of sense of orientation from Chiharu.

"I'm sure they will be fine. Chiharu probably saw some pretty things on the way here and just HAD to stop by." Naoki rolled her eyes knowingly.

"Or Kaidoh saw a kitten." Amaya added.

At this moment, Eiji came back carrying a bag full of hot drinks. He smiled at them sheepishly while passing them around. "You guys sure are slow."

Oishi groaned and hit him on the arm. "And you were probably going too fast. Do you know how dangerous…?"

Eiji dropped the drink inside the jacket containing both him and Amaya, and Oishi stopped talking as he hurriedly pressed his chest against Amaya's to catch the can.

"It was really fun! – Eiji pursued loudly to drown out Oishi's consternated cries - the speed of the Dodge is insane!" But then his face got long. "I'm so sad the drive is already over. I could go for another two or three hours."

"Thank God you didn't have to." Mai shuddered, holding her stomach.

Eiji bit his lips petulantly. "Well no one asked you to come onboard with me. You could have gotten on another car if you were that scared."

Mai put on a defiant face. "Well, do you think anyone would dare ride with you? You drive like a madman! You're way too impulsive, you know? How can you make your turns without slowing down?" Her face paled again at the memory. "You must be more careful."

"But the point of driving a car like that is to taste the speed!" Eiji protested moodily, but seeing Mai's stern face, he let the argument drop with a sigh, and then swiftly walked towards Fuji instead.

"Here, catch." He told him neutrally. Fuji caught the can that Eiji was throwing in his direction and nodded his thanks. But Eiji had already moved on.

Harumi finally found her sweater and slipped it on with a sigh. Her hair was being blown in all directions by the wind, and she couldn't see much. That's why she was surprised when a can suddenly invaded her field of vision.

"Oh! Hot red bean soup!" She took the can in her hands, feeling the heat sipping through her palms, up her arms, and into her chest. The warmth was so very welcome. "My favourite!" The surprise in her voice surprised her.

Eiji's lips curved up in a half smile. "I know."

He then sauntered off, waving, as the Nissan finally made its appearance in the parking lot.

"Thanks." She mumbled after him.

She turned around and caught Fuji looking. Her gaze dropped to his hands and saw that he got the red bean soup as well. "It's also my favourite." He announced.

"Really? It's so cool that we have that in common! I didn't know!" She said excitedly.

"Yeah, me neither." His blue eyes softened. "Here, let me open it for you."

_But Eiji did know. He knew for both of us._

She didn't say that out loud.

Chiharu and the rest were held back because after only 30 minutes Momo really had to go pee. They made fun of him for that during the entire time that they paid for the parking, got their hiking tickets, and distributed the camping gear and the food amongst themselves to carry.

"I didn't expect it to be this cold, here." Naoko rubbed her hands.

"I know, it's the damn wind." Chiharu groaned in response, her red hair flying around her face like a wild fireball.

Takasan pumped up his chest. "No complaining! You are going to start feeling warm enough once we start climbing."

"Yeah! This is going to be good, guys! And a little fresh air won't hurt either!" Harumi chipped in.

"Everyone ready? Then let's go!" Tezuka commanded in a clear voice. "Remember to follow the path and to follow each other. I don't want you getting lost in the woods or falling down cliffs."

Tezuka opened the way, and everyone followed him, chattering animatedly. There were other groups of hikers in the parking lot, getting ready to go too. At the foot of the mountain, they could choose their hiking road, and after some deliberation, they decided to go with the path of medium difficulty.

After a few minutes of climbing, Inui popped up beside Fuji and Harumi.

He rummaged through his bag and then put one bottle in each of their hands. "If you get thirsty, you can drink this," he said with a smirk.

He then picked up his pace and went to the twin sisters who were walking ahead.

Harumi drained out the white liquid on the ground as she walked as soon as Inui was out of sight. "Ha, I won't fall for that." She didn't comment on Fuji putting the bottle inside his bag. Fuji was the only one who could handle Inui's drinks and find them juicy.

Soon, the path narrowed down a little, with underbrush on both sides, and trees towering above them, their branches swaying slightly in the wind producing soft singing sounds.

Fuji reached out to firmly take her small hand in his. "Careful not to step on any loose rocks. Just walk behind me."

Harumi squeezed his hand gratefully.

They walked for a few hours until Naoki started to complain about her feet hurting. "I think I'm getting blisters already." She whimpered. "And my bag is too heavy. Do I really need to carry the food too?"

"If you don't, you can let it down, and then we will have to eat less." Chiharu said with a shrug. "Not that I mind. It would be good for my diet."

"You don't need to be on a diet, Chiharu – Mai scolded – you look fine the way you are. You should eat well."

"Yes, mom!" Chiharu chirped with her hands behind her back, the total image of innocence.

Momo giggled at that, but stopped when Mai glared at him.

"Guys, you're walking too fast." Naoki protested again.

Kaidoh rolled his eyes and went to lift her bag along with her blanket to put it on top of his share of load. "Stop whining, woman."

Naoki blinked and watched him walk away while carrying both of their baggage. Chiharu clapped and whistled. "Kaidoh is so cool!"

Some other people whistled and hollered as well, gaining enthusiasm when Kaidoh's ears turned red.

"Walk in silence, and you will tire less fast." Tezuka screamed out from the front.

"Yes buchou!" Everyone said by reflex.

They stopped to have lunch by the side of the road, sweaty and starved, but soon Chiharu was complaining on how disgusting cold food tasted. "I packed myself a bento but I can't heat it. How am I supposed to eat this thing?"

Harumi unwrapped her sandwich. "Have you guys really never hiked before? Don't bring food that needs to be heated."

"Demo, demo!" Chiharu pouted, and tragically put her face in her hands.

"Neh, neh, Chiharu, don't be like that – Momo said beside her and patted her back – here, you can have half of my lunch."

Chiharu opened up her palm and one green eye stared down at the contents of his lunch box from between her fingers. "No, I don't want dried fish either."

She jumped up and sat down beside Takasan. "Takasan, can I please have one of your sushi?"

Takasan couldn't really say no when her face was only a few inches from his, with her full lips slightly parted and her green eyes looking up uncertainly and vulnerably up at him.

"O-o-of course. You can have them all!" He pushed his lunchbox into her hands and quickly stood up, blushing.

"Oh my, you are too kind Takasan!" Chiharu grinned wildly and clapped her hands excitedly before she dug in.

Mai frowned at her and pulled her apart to get themselves some privacy. "Chiharu, stop trying to seduce people in exchange for food!"

Chiharu chewed on the sushi. "Seduce? I was only asking nicely. Our friends are really too kind to me."

She swallowed and smiled. "Want some?"

"No thanks!" Mai walked away fatalistically, mumbling something about morals.

In the afternoon, the sun was out in full force, and soon they were drenched in sweat as the group pushed through tall grass and vegetation on a particularly steep part of the mountain. The path was long gone, and they were just climbing up wherever it was easiest to go. Soon, most of the boys were leading, along with Harumi and Chiharu, while the rest fell a little behind.

They were helping themselves climb by taking support on the tree trunks that grew at a weird angle in relation to the ground. Most of the roots were springing out of the dirt and arching upwards above the ground before sinking back into the soil again a few meters away.

Fuji was walking behind Harumi to protect her from a potential fall.

In spite of the treacherous road, he would sometimes pause with his back against a rock or the rough trunk of a tree, and would take some pictures of their surroundings. He had not forgotten to bring his camera after all. He also took a lot of pictures of their friends climbing, until Harumi stopped him and told him she didn't want all her pictures to end up with her butt towards the camera.

Then the weather changed all of a sudden, and a light rain showered down upon them. Inui wiped away water from his glasses for the tenth time before asking that maybe they should stop and take cover for awhile, but Tezuka urged them on, telling them that the sun would be setting in a couple of hours and they had better found a plateau by then to set up camp.

Fifteen minutes later, the rain lifted up and the sky was blue again, but tinted with the orange of dusk.

"Hey guys, I think there's a river somewhere near here. I hear water running." Eiji said, perched upon a rock.

Harumi paused to listen, and so did the others. "I don't hear anything." She mused.

Eiji quickly climbed up the nearest tree, in spite of Mai's worried orders for him to stop immediately and climb back down. He reached the top quickly, his body moving with the grace of a feline. Perched on the highest possible branch, he looked around and pointed to the west ecstatically.

"I see a river!" He yelled down, his voice sounding echo-ish when it reached the ground.

"What shall we do, Tezuka?" Amaya asked. "We can go to the river to refill our water bottles, or we can keep climbing and hope to find a plateau soon."

Tezuka scanned the landscape in front of them, but it was hard to predict how the slope would turn out further up. Harumi tugged on his shirt. "We should go to the river, and then follow it. It will be easier to find a camping site near the water."

Tezuka considered this, and then nodded. "Alright, the river it is then."

Eiji came back down and walked towards them, looking pleased when Tezuka complimented him on his sharp ears.

"My good sight is not my only superhuman power," he bragged with his arms crossed behind his head.

Mai hit him on the arm. "No modesty at all."

He simply grinned his cat-grin.

They reached the river after 20 minutes of walking along the slope of the mountain, listening as the sound of the water became clearer and stronger with every step. Soon, they saw it cascading downwards merrily, the water splashing against the banks and jumping up into the air in crystal droplets as they hit the rocks.

Naoki let out a scream of joy and ran into the water after removing her shoes. "The water feels so nice!"

A few other people followed her example while the others refilled their bottles.

Kaidoh looked upwards and pointed. "It seems that the slope is easing. Maybe we will find a place to camp."

They rested for awhile and then set out once again. Like Kaidoh said, soon enough, the ground levelled a whole lot, becoming almost flat as they came upon a small clearing a few feet from the river. There were already some tents erected at the far end, and another young group of teenagers was trying to start a camp fire. There was still enough space for them, so they let down their baggage with relief, and took out the folded tents.

Harumi ran from one group to another, trying to help everyone set up their tents, as it seemed she was the one with the most experience on camping. She laughed when the tent collapsed on Momo, burying him under; Momo kicked at the fabric, panicked, and Harumi tried to get it off him, but he only managed to get more tangled up with his frantic movements.

"Stop moving!" She commanded and he stopped. Kaidoh and Takasan rushed to help, and together, they finally succeeded in freeing him from the shelter. Kaidoh immediately smacked him across the head with the back of his hand. "Baka! How can you be so useless?"

"Who are you calling useless? I'm gonna suffocate you with this tent, then tie you up and throw you in the river and watch you crash down on the rocks at the foot of the mountain!"

"Guys, your death threats are getting more creative with each passing year." Harumi said with admiration.

"Shut up!" They yelled in her direction at the same time.

Harumi mouthed an amused "fine", and then went to help Takasan set up the tent again. Fuji came to bring her a bottle of water. "You've been working hard."

"Thanks!" She finished half the bottle greedily and sighed in satisfaction. When she returned the bottle to Fuji, his hand closed on her wrist and suddenly she was pulled in.

"Do you want a reward?" he asked innocently.

Harumi felt the whisper of his words on her lips more than she heard them. She swallowed, and seized his shirt, her eyes darting around. "In public?" She asked weakly, but her eyes must have told a different story, because he bent down and claimed her lips with his.

Harumi tensed up, but then relaxed against the softness of his mouth on hers. She marvelled at how sweet he tasted, the velvet quality of his lips melting into hers as he sucked the breath out of her. And then he was pulling back, leaving her shivering slightly. She smiled against his cheek and planted a small kiss there. She realized how tight she had been holding on to his back, and quickly let go.

A breeze ruffled through Fuji's brown hair as he gently caressed her cheek with his knuckles before walking off to help Oishi and Amaya start up a camp fire.

It took her a few more seconds before she got enough spirits back to continue helping out with the tent.

_That Fuji! He will be the death of me. _

The sun set as they finally managed to get the fire going. They heated Chiharu's bento, and a few pieces of meat and fish, along with some marshmallows. Naoki also took out some bread from the food pack and passed it around. They chatted, and ate, and drank the water from the river. The other group across from theirs started to sing a song, and Tezuka forced them to sing one too. And soon the two groups were competing across the clearing as to who could scream out the lyrics louder.

Soon, the night sky was filled with song, and laughter and chatter.

Chiharu took out some flashlights and asked who wanted to go to the river with her. Harumi, Amaya, Naoki and Naoko all stood up to go with her.

When Takasan rose to follow, Chiharu waved a finger at him. "It's girls' time, Takasan!"

Takasan sat back down with disappointment.

The night was pretty hot as the girls made their way carefully through underbrush and fallen branches to where the river splashed and sang. They plunged their feet in the water and playfully kicked water at each other for awhile.

"I wonder if we can catch any fish here." Harumi mused.

Naoki splashed her. "We didn't even bring fishing poles, so even if there is fish, we won't catch any."

"Ah, but in the movies I've seen people use sticks or their bare hands." Naoko said softly.

"Sister, you are hopeless. That's only in movies. Do you think any of the real people we know are skilled enough to pull it off? Although… - Naoki was thoughtful for a second and then pointed at Harumi – your boyfriend the tensai should be able to do it."

Harumi nodded gravely. "My boyfriend the tensai can definitely do it."

"I bet Oishi could do it too! Fishing requires patience, and patience is one of his strong suits." Amaya said with a smile.

"Are you all advertising your boyfriends?" Chiharu huffed. "Fine, then tomorrow they should hold a match. Fuji vs Oishi: the prince of fishing."

They all laughed out loud at that.

"So how's a long distance relationship? – Naoki asked all of a sudden – did your feelings ever waver? You didn't meet any hot French guys over there?"

Surprise painted Harumi's features, followed by amusement. Naoki quickly added: "It's okay if you did. Your secret will be safe with us."

The others nodded fervently. "Whatever happens at the Rokko Mountains, stays at the Rokko Mountains." Chiharu added solemnly.

"How is a long distance relationship? – Harumi repeated – mmm let's see. It's a pain in the ass, that's what it is. You never see the other person. When there's something you want to tell him, you can't just pick up the phone, because it's probably not worth it to pay the long distance fees just to say "I had pasta today and it was good". I mean, if he was there in the same city, then it would have been the easiest thing in the world. But I can only say things to him via email, and by the time he replies, I will have new things that I would be excited about."

"Sounds tough." Amaya conceded. "But what about the hot French guys part?"

Harumi sighed. "You girls really wish something juicy happened, right? But I mean, I wasn't really interested in anyone… - she raised a hand to stop the eye rolling from Naoki – seriously! I had some guy friends, but that's all. They weren't even as close as I am with… let's say Momo, here."

"I don't believe in friendship between a man and a woman." Chiharu said, and somehow she sounded very serious.

"I do believe in it." Harumi said. "Why can't a guy and a girl just be friends?"

"Because, when they become really close friends, then the hormones will start kicking in, and next thing they know, everything is messed up between them."

"So being casual friends is ok?" Naoko asked.

"Casual friend status has the potential to develop into close friend status without you knowing it. It's just dangerous. That's why guys can't be your friends, only your lovers."

"But – Harumi protested – if I have a boyfriend, then all the other guys will automatically be my friends. What else would I call Momo, Takasan and the rest?"

"Yes, you can see them as friends, but that doesn't necessarily mean THEY see YOU as a friend."

Harumi turned this over in her head.

_I guess it makes some sense._

Then, something clicked. "Wait, are you saying that someone else likes me?"

Chiharu sighed. "No, I'm not saying that. It's just an example."

"Besides, it will most likely apply to you, Chiharu, right?" Amaya asked with a mild smile.

"Yeah, it's hard to keep track of all the guys who like you at one point in time." Naoko gently mocked.

"I think you just made Takasan develop a crush on you after the sushi incident today."

Chiharu splashed water at all of them until they screamed and begged her to stop. The redhead swayed her feet in the water and then sighed. "I really wasn't trying to seduce him. Really!"

Naoki suddenly got close to Chiharu, parting her lips and looking at her from under her bangs. "O-ne-gai." She whispered out in a half moan, making the redhead shudder and push her away, while the others laughed at her Chiharu impersonation. "I was NOT like that." Chiharu stated, offended.

"Yes you were." Everyone else chorused back at the same time.

Chiharu waved them off. "Fine, whatever you girls say."

Harumi tried to coin a little rock in the water between her toes, but failed miserably. She couldn't see much in the dark now, and the faces of her friends were blurry and hidden in shadows. She turned on her flashlight, laughing when the others shrieked a little and shielded their faces from the light.

"So how are your love lives?" She asked.

"Aha, the dreaded topic. I knew this one was coming." Harumi felt more saw the eye rolling that accompanied Chiharu's words.

"What, Chiharu? I remember you were very eager to talk about this in the past."

"Such bad memory, Harumi! Naoki was the queen of gossip, and still is."

"But you were a close second!"

"Fine, maybe a little bit. But I was so naïve back then. I think we all were. I thought love was this grand and magic thing that could make your life perfect if you got a hold of it, but really, it's nothing much. It actually ties you down, makes you hot headed and make bad decisions that you will surely regret later."

Amaya elbowed her. "Why are you talking like an obasan?"

Chiharu sighed and put both her hands on Amaya's shoulders. "Amaya, I know you can't possibly agree with me right now, since everything's been going so well with Oishi for years. And I hope that it will stay the same for the years to come, but… there's always the risk that someday everything will just disappear."

Harumi threw a questioning look at Naoko sitting next to her, but the blonde girl quickly cast her glance down. Harumi was a little frustrated that her friends kept evading the topic of Chiharu's past relation with Atobe, and she really couldn't stand any longer being the only one not to know.

"So, Chiharu – she asked in a levelled voice – what exactly did Atobe do to destroy your illusion of love?"

There was a tense silence, and Naoki elbowed Harumi from the other side, which she ignored. "Come on girls, I'm the only one who doesn't know. That's not really fair. You guys always fall silent when it comes to this. Was it… that horrible?" She finished softly.

Chiharu's hair was a dark curtain against her voice, but when she turned to face Harumi, Harumi could somehow see the glint in her eyes clearly. "It wasn't really that horrible. Just a normal break-up, really. You had left for a year when Atobe started thinking that our relationship wasn't that serious. His mom wanted him to look for someone who would be more suitable for him. You know that my family isn't rich nor has a title. His mother wanted him to get married, and I wasn't at all the kind of daughter-in-law she had in mind."

"So Atobe just let you go?" Harumi exclaimed furiously.

"No, I was the one who let him go. I said that I understood, and that I wasn't really dating him with the goal of marrying him."

That seemed to be a lie, because Harumi remembered that Chiharu would always fantasize about what it would be like to marry someone as rich and influential as Atobe Keigo. Chiharu used to daydream about all the clothes, the perfumes, and the houses she could afford then. The redheaded girl seemed to read Harumi's mind.

"Of course, if he really wanted to marry me, I wouldn't have said no. But I knew that in real life, there is only a slight chance, maybe less than a 1% chance, that a marriage between us would ever happen. I was satisfied with everything he could give me while we were casually dating. Besides, I don't think I would settle for a husband like him either. Our personalities are not very compatible, and the way we look at things and solve problems is too different."

"Do you mean to say that you only dated him for his money back then?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Chiharu said in a cold, haughty voice. "You all might look down on me for this, but what Atobe wanted to accomplish by dating me was to show off that he had the prettiest girlfriend in town. Not everyone gets together for pure intentions, you know?"

Harumi sweatdropped at her lack of modesty. Chiharu knew she was gorgeous and had never been ashamed to admit it out loud.

"So… if the break-up was somewhat amicable – Harumi continued – why do you seem to hate him so much right now?"

"I don't… - Chiharu seemed to think it over – ok, fine, I guess I do because I actually regret wasting so much time on him. It's true that he gave me presents and access to his credit card, but so what. His "love" has always been the materialistic kind. These days I get disgusted just by seeing his face. It's just the way I feel right now, and I can't do anything about it."

Harumi was thinking this over, thinking about how the things she said didn't really make sense, when Chiharu stretched and got up. "I'm feeling sleepy now, girls. I think I will go back to camp first. Don't gossip too much behind my back, eh?" She finished in a warning tone.

The others waved her goodbye, but Harumi just watched her leave pensively.

So she said that Atobe and she didn't separate on bad terms, but now there was a feud between them instead of indifference? If they had used each other, and Chiharu even recognized this now, then they could have stayed friends and joked about it. There was no need for that feeling of disgust, or whatever. And besides, Chiharu didn't really explain why she had lost faith in love after breaking up with Atobe. After all, her relationship with him was based only on money and appearance and not love.

"She didn't tell me the truth, did she?" She said out loud to the others. Amaya sighed and plunged her hand in the river, feeling the water pushing against her palm. "That's what she told us too."

"It doesn't make much sense, eh?" Naoki whispered conspiratorially. "Chiharu has never been gifted at making up stories. But whatever the truth is, she hasn't told us either."

"So… it's been two years since that happened, and none of you have found out the real reason behind this yet? – Harumi was sceptical – especially you, Naoki. I can't believe you of all people haven't dug up anything."

Naoki shifted into a more comfortable position. "As a matter of fact, I have."

She waited for the outbreak to occur, and soon enough, everyone was talking at once, throwing her incredulous looks, asking her questions. She had to yell a few times to calm down the ruckus.

"How come you have never said anything?" Amaya asked.

"None of you have ever asked."

"Fine, tell us now. What do you know?" Harumi asked impatiently.

Naoki twirled her hair around her finger and cleared her throat. "Well… It's true that they officially told the outside world that they broke up two years ago, and it's true that Atobe's mother seems to be involved somehow, but their relationship continued in spite of everything."

Naoko gasped. "You mean… in secret?"

"Why didn't you say something?" Amaya exclaimed in hushed tones.

Naoki sighed. "I couldn't really be sure. They would see each other sometimes, and it would look like a date, but what they were talking about, I don't know. They never did couple stuff like hugging or kissing."

"Did they look mad at each other?"

Naoki was thoughtful for a few seconds. "I don't… think so. They looked pretty normal. They were just sitting, chatting and having a normal conversation."

"Well, then what happened? Because I don't think they are that civil with each other any longer." Harumi further pressed.

Naoki beckoned to them all to come closer, and the other girls complied, their foreheads almost touching in the dark, and the sound of the river almost muffling Naoki's voice when she finally spoke up.

"You know how she started modelling about a year and a half ago? She said modelling was her newfound dream and she started going to auditions and stuff, but it wasn't really working in the beginning. Her offers were rejected most of the time because the competition is stiff in that market. She was getting quite frustrated, so Atobe said he would try to pull some strings for her with his influence. And that seemed to work. Chiharu started getting more gigs and more ads. But somehow, instead of being grateful to Atobe, her relationship with him actually deteriorated. Maybe something else happened between them at that time that we are not aware of. Maybe it's related to Atobe's mother."

Naoki couldn't see the faces of her friends well in the dark, but she knew that they were all harbouring confused expressions from the heavy silence that followed.

"Unfortunately I have no proof that it happened like this, but it was after that that Chiharu couldn't bear to hear his name any longer. She even stopped modelling for a time and cancelled all her gigs, ruining all of Atobe's previous efforts. And she's only picked it up again recently."

"I don't get it," Naoko simply said.

"The mystery deepens," Harumi agreed.

"What are you girls still here?" Tezuka's voice suddenly resonated behind them, and they all startled, jumping up from the riverbank and scrutinizing the darkness. Tezuka's glasses shone in the dark before he finally lit up his flashlight and illuminated the space between him and the girls. Harumi heaved a sigh of relief, a hand to her heart.

"Tezuka-san, please don't scare us like this again."

Tezuka looked at her impassively, then said sternly: "It's late, and it's not safe to be here all by yourselves. We have an early morning tomorrow too, so you all better go back to camp to get some sleep."

"Please lead the way then." Naoko agreed quietly.

Tezuka nodded once and turned to leave. The girls huddled close and followed his flashlight, trying to save the batteries of their own flashlights.

Soon, the light of the fire appeared from between the trees, guiding them towards their camp. The guys were all sitting around the fire, grilling fish and marshmallows on temporary sticks that they had picked up from the mountain ground.

"Where have you been?" Fuji asked.

Harumi hurried to his side and huddled close to him. "We just went to the river to catch up."

Fuji arched an eyebrow at her wink. "Were you girls gossiping?"

Before Harumi could refute this, he added in a disappointed voice: "And you didn't invite me?"

Harumi actually snorted at that, before excusing herself. She had forgotten how much Fuji actually liked gossip. She considered asking whether he knew anything about Chiharu and Atobe, but was interrupted by Tezuka ushering them to their respective tents.

"Listen carefully: this is only a temporary camp. We will have more time to do camp activities once we set up a more permanent camp at the summit of the mountain. For now, our goal is to reach that summit as soon as possible. In order to be able to hike with all your might tomorrow, you should get a good night's rest first. That's all."

Everyone sighed, but still obeyed his orders.

"I wonder why everyone still listens to Tezuka-san?" Harumi wondered out loud.

"We still have a lot of respect for him. He led us to win the Nationals, and so we tend to trust him on a lot of things, even now. He'll forever be our Buchou." Momo answered her cheerfully.

She twirled around, surprised, but then gave him an understanding smile.

* * *

><p>It wasn't light yet when Tezuka made them wake up the next morning. Harumi snuggled deeper into her sleeping bag and tried to shut out Tezuka's loud voice coming from the other side of the tent. Beside her, Amaya and Chiharu both groaned and buried themselves deeper into their own sleeping bags.<p>

Over the now distant sound of Tezuka's voice, there was an overall regular drumming sound enveloping their tent. It was peaceful and made Harumi pass out again. She didn't know how many minutes passed before her eyes were forced open by a blaring siren right next to her ear. She jumped up, shrieking, eyes a little wild as she appraised her surroundings.

Amaya was nowhere to be seen, and Chiharu was half lying on top of her, her red hair scattered across Harumi's laps like a sea of fire. Beside her stood Mai, a wicked smirk behind the horn she was holding in one hand.

"Rise and shine!"

Harumi popped a finger in her ear, and her grimace turned into a yawn. She shuddered and collected the sleeping bag around her shoulders.

"W-why… What are you doing here?" Harumi drawled, heavy-lidded. "Too early."

Mai appraised her again. "Time to get up, grab some food and continue the hike! We are hoping to reach the main camping site by nightfall."

Harumi closed the sleeping bag around her like a cocoon and stared at Mai sullenly. "Fine, I'll be out in a second."

Mai smirked victoriously before blowing the horn again, but this time in Chiharu's ear. The redhead mumbled something, but apart from that didn't bulge.

"She's a tough one." Mai groaned, before exiting the tent.

Harumi thought for a second that she had given up, before she returned with a bottle full of water, that she proceeded on pouring down Chiharu's face.

Chiharu's head shot up like an arrow as she chocked. "What's your problem?" She yelled between coughs.

Mai remained impassive. "Good morning."

Chiharu wiped the water away from her face with a corner of her sleeve, before eyeing Mai dangerously. Mai just smiled politely at her before bending over and exiting the tent again. Chiharu huffed, and wriggled her hair. "Damn, I hate that woman."

Harumi mumbled something before yawning again. Her wrist watch said it was 5am. _Damn._

"It's still so dark outside." Chiharu whined.

Harumi poked her head out of the tent and was welcomed with a drop of rain on her nose. "Great, and it's raining, too."

Fuji's face suddenly appeared in front of hers, making her gasp. "It's been raining all night."

"I… I see." She found that Fuji's sudden appearance was a much more efficient (and pleasant) wake-up call than Mai's horn, as she put on her new set of clothes and gathered her belongings in brisk movements.

She was one of the last ones to get ready. They had a quick breakfast, feeding on a sandwich, before removing and packing the tents.

"Let's aim for the peak today!" Naoki clamoured.

Only sleepy groans replied back.

Soon, they were back on the hiking path again. The ground had been made slippery by the rain, and soon they were panting as they used trees and rock to haul themselves up the slope. Harumi soon felt her socks become muddy as water splattered inside from the wet ground.

_It's like I'm walking on a mini river._

"Are you tired?" She suddenly heard Fuji ask.

She felt warmed up by the concern she detected in his blue eyes. "No, just appraising the road." She replied with a smile.

Fuji handed her a stick. "This might help." Harumi took it and turned it between her hands. It was just long enough, and very solid looking. She saw that Fuji was holding a similar one.

"Sugoi! Where did you find those?"

"On the way here."

"I haven't even thought of this!" She exclaimed. "With this, I think we can be the first ones to reach the mountain peak. What do you think?"

Fuji smirked at the playful glint in Harumi's purple eyes, the one he loved the most. "I think you're right."

Fuji held out his hand, and Harumi entwined hers with his. Harumi held the walking stick in her other hand, and found that now climbing up was almost easy.

They didn't see Chiharu who was following their action from a little way behind. She threw back a strand of wet red hair behind her shoulders and readjusted her bag. Her feet felt heavy from paddling on the muddy path, and she thought there was a blister on her foot for sure. She really shouldn't have agreed to this hiking trip. Hiking was really not her thing.

_It doesn't suit someone like you._

She shuddered at the voice in her head and quickened her pace. She noticed her hand shaking a little, and quickly covered it with her other hand, her green eyes darting around her to make sure no one had noticed.

Unfortunately, she didn't see Inui coming from amongst the trees after he went to take a piss. Inui arched an eyebrow when he saw the expression on her face. He didn't write on the notebooks anymore ever since middle school, but preferred to consign details to memory. This is what he did with Chiharu's case as well.

Further ahead, Tezuka was leading the way, with Naoko keeping up pace with him. After awhile, Tezuka glanced in her direction. She was smaller than him, so he couldn't see her face as she kept her eyes on the road to make sure she didn't trip on anything. Her blonde hair still had some pearls of rain strung on them.

Tezuka nodded at her efforts approvingly. Ever since she went away to do figure skating, she had been more outgoing and more physically fit. Tezuka knew she had had a crush on him back in elementary school. He was very absorbed in tennis back then, but that didn't mean he was blind to everything else. He had also found it amusing when she blushed and stuttered in front of him. She didn't do that anymore, and Tezuka found himself missing that part of her.

In high school, he had barely seen Naoko since she and her sister were put in a different class from him. Obviously, by seeing him less often, she must have gotten over her crush. Tezuka sighed; the heart of women sure was fickle. He had never fallen in love with anyone, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. It was just too much drama, and he preferred his life to be without that. Discipline was all one needed, really.

Tezuka took off his glasses for a second to wipe off the water droplets on the glass. When he put them back on, he saw Eiji climbing in front of him, jumping from one rock to another.

"Wait, Eiji!" Mai screamed as she tried to keep up with him but failed.

"Eiji!" Tezuka barked. "Quit doing that! It's dangerous."

Eiji turned back and stuck out his tongue at him before jumping to the next rock and disappearing from sight for a moment. Tezuka was slightly stunned. He hadn't seen Eiji this playful since… forever, it seemed. Mai fell into a quick walk beside him and Naoko, holding her side and panting.

"Why does he keep… going so fast." She managed to say between two breaths.

Naoko gave her a sympathetic smile, but Tezuka just stared ahead, his expression grim. From the corner of his eye, he could see Harumi and Fuji catching up to them steadily, walking hand in hand and conversing quietly.

He wasn't the group's captain for nothing; after years of guiding them and pushing them to do their best, he had come to understand each and every one of them. He knew what happened between Eiji, Fuji and Harumi three years ago. And their example was precisely why he thought falling in love was silly and a waste of time. Even his friend Atobe has had drama concerning his love life in the past two years, and Tezuka thought that Atobe was a lot less focused on his tennis and his studies ever since it happened. Tezuka really couldn't fathom how even Atobe could fall prey to petty relationship problems. No, it was better for him to stay away from it all. Love wasn't something he could gain through practice, and love wasn't something that listened to his command; therefore, he did not know how to handle it, and had no desire to know.

They stopped briefly for lunch, and then continued their climb. The air became extremely stuffy in the afternoon so that most guys except for Tezuka removed their shirts and started walking topless. While the guys were walking and comparing their muscles, Naoki was frowning in spite of Naoko pulling on her shirt and whispering things about "eye candy".

"What?" Naoki finally looked up from her phone, irritated.

"Sister! I can't believe you aren't admiring the nakedness of the guys."

Naoki threw them a distracted glance and went back to stare at her phone. "Leave me alone, Naoko. I've been with these guys since forever, and all sense of novelty has long worn off. Besides, half of them are taken, and I have no interest in the other half."

Naoko sighed, and then eyed the guys again. Suddenly, she sensed Tezuka's glance on her face, and saw that he had caught her ogling. Blushing, she quickly turned away.

"What are you doing with your phone anyway?" She quickly asked her sister.

Naoki frowned again and lifted her phone. "I can't seem to get a signal. This sucks."

"Are you waiting for some mail?"

"Yeah, from my job."

"Give it up, there is no signal here in the mountains." Chiharu peeped up nonchalantly.

"Great. When they say "cut off from civilization", they were quite literal."

"Well, it's not a bad thing to forget about the outside world for a couple of days." Chiharu smiled. "Just focus on the people here with you right now. Isn't that the whole point of this trip?"

Naoki sighed, and then eyed Naoko who was nodding enthusiastically at her. "Fine, you are right. Come on, let's pick up the pace!"

A few hours later, dark clouds gathered and it started raining again in full force. Thunder rolled above their heads and lightning started to strike at regular intervals. Harumi rubbed the rain off her arms and tried to seek shelter under a tree, but was pulled away by Fuji.

"Don't. Trees attract lightning."

Harumi nodded automatically and went back to stand under the pouring rain.

"What do we do?" Chiharu demanded with both arms above her head, trying to shield her face from the downpour.

They were at a particularly steep part of the mountain, so they couldn't afford to stop, nor could they set camp. Naoko stepped on a wet turf of grass and slipped. She would have fallen down if not for Tezuka's grip on her forearm, steadying her. Naoko looked up from under her hair, a grateful look in her eyes.

Eiji came back towards them, using his hands as he slid down to their level.

"Where have you been?" Mai chastised him severely. "Don't go so fast! It's dangerous."

Eiji gave her a small smile and just slid past by wordlessly, stopping close to the center of the group.

"It doesn't get much better if you climb." He told Tezuka and Inui. "It's still steep and slippery even a few meters up from here."

Harumi squinted her eyes and tried to look up the path they were climbing, but all she could see was the rain falling. Thunder rolled again, and she felt the vibration down to the sole of her feet. Suddenly, she spotted a little path off to her right.

"Hey guys – she called out – it looks like there's another path up there. I'll go scout."

"Wait, it's too dangerous!" Fuji protested and tried to seize her arm, but she was already climbing. Naoki tried to move to make space for Harumi to pass, but then seemed to think better of it and started climbing in front of the other girl.

"I'll go with you." Naoki told Harumi from over her shoulder.

Harumi smiled. She could feel the rain beating down on her head and back; a little got into her mouth and she spit it back out. Naoki and she were on all fours, using rocks and tree roots embedded in the ground as support.

"Don't worry. There was a time when we did wall climbing in high school, and I was best of my class." Naoki half yelled to Harumi after another flash of lightning.

Harumi smiled. She trusted Naoki even without her saying that.

The path they were following was narrow. The ground was high on her left, but on the right it steadily became a cliff. Harumi peered down and grimaced.

The path became wider and then finished in a small plateau. There were a few trees scattered at the far side of the plateau but they didn't offer much protection, with their leaves balancing menacingly in the wind.

Harumi finally climbed onto the plateau and followed Naoki when she crawled under the leaves of huge underbrush. "This looks like a good place to wait for the storm to pass." Naoki said.

Harumi agreed. "We should go back to tell the others."

At that moment, they saw Eiji climbing up from the path as well. He looked around for awhile, squinting the rain out of his eyes, and then he spotted Naoki waving at him. He ran towards them and crashed down by their side, breathing heavily. "This storm is scary."

"Weather in the mountains can change quickly like this. I was expecting something like this to happen since the beginning." Naoki proclaimed.

Eiji opened one eye to appraise her. "Not the time to get smug over knowing in advance, right?"

Naoki shrugged, then stood up. "I'm going back down to tell the others to come."

Soon, she disappeared down the narrow passage again.

Eiji sighed and crawled further back under the coverage of the plants. He wiped rain from his face, and caught Harumi staring at him. He blinked confusingly and wiped his face again.

Harumi turned away, her expression settling into a stern one, and stared at the falling rain.

_I'm not talking to him. I'm not talking to him. Remember the promise with Mai. Ok_

Eiji watched her for a few more seconds before doing the same. The sound that the rain made while contacting the ground was almost a cacophony of sorts, producing a thunder of their own.

"Neh, Harumi…" Eiji started.

She startled. "Mmm?"

"Are you really happy that I came? No one… forced you to ask me to come?"

Two perplexed purple eyes settled on Eiji's serious face. "Why do you ask that?"

Eiji scratched his head. "Never mind then."

Harumi sighed and hugged her knees tighter. "Of course I'm happy that you came. Now we are almost all here, together, just like old times. I'm sure that's what Naoko wants as well."

"Right, just like old times."

Harumi watched the big droplets of rain crash on her arms, before rolling off and hitting the ground.

"Neh Eiji…" She started hesitatingly.

"Nani?"

"Do you hate me?"

Eiji had been balancing back and forth on the balls of his feet, but at Harumi's question, he stopped and turned to look at her squarely. "I don't know," he answered slowly. "I just don't know what you are thinking, Harumi. You wanted me to come on this trip, and you... you are nice to me, and that confuses me."

Harumi arched an eyebrow. "Why would that confuse you? Did you expect me to treat you coldly? When everything that happened was my fault?" she asked vehemently.

Eiji stared at her.

For a moment, only the sound of the rain could be heard.

"Why did you do it then?" he asked with his eyes on the ground.

From the way he was biting his lip, she could see that he was in pain, and that scared her and confused her. She put her hand on his arm and he lifted his eyes to her face apprehensively.

"I..." Harumi chocked. "I'm _so_ sorry, Eiji. I know... I know, I never meant to hurt you this way."

Her fingers tightened on his sleeve and scrunched up the tissue. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but please just know that when I was with you, I was sincere. I liked you, I really did. And you were my best friend, and I was young and stupid, and didn't know what I was doing."

She closed her eyes and half expected Eiji to push her hand and her apologies away, but instead, she felt his warm hand on hers. Her eyes snapped open and she encountered his dark blue eyes, full of confusion.

"I know all that," he said softly. "I said I would let you go, didn't I? I was angry at you for a while, it's true, but then I came to accept your decision, because it was _your_ decision, Harumi. But..." he bit his lip again. "I thought we could remain friends after that. I never thought letting you go meant cutting all ties."

A flicker of hope alighted in Harumi's chest. "Me neither! Oh Eiji, do you mean what you're saying? Can we be friends again?"

Eiji stared at her again as though he did not understand what she was saying.

"But you said..." he started, and was interrupted by Naoki reappearing up the narrow path with the others trailing behind her.

Harumi licked her lips and let her hand drop from Eiji's arm. The conversation she had just had with him left her truly puzzled though. She could feel his gaze on her back as she stood up to go to their friends.

_What did he mean? I don't understand. I need to have a good talk with him, it's decided! I know I promised Mai I wouldn't, but what I heard changes things. When Eiji says he didn't mean to cut all ties with me, he means that he wanted to stay friends! But why was he behaving as though he hated me all this time? I must clarify this._

She saw Fuji climbing up as well, and quickly went to him.

"What was that about?" Fuji asked her curiously when they were huddled under cover.

"What?" Harumi asked distractingly.

"Did Eiji say something?"

Harumi twirled her wet hair around her hand. "Yeah," she answered vaguely, and then quickly added: "Not for long though, because Mai doesn't like it when I talk to him."

Fuji paused. "Why?"

"Well... because she likes him?"

"But she doesn't seem to mind it when the other girls talk to him."

Harumi turned away from Fuji a little. "You know that it's different between us."

There was a moment of silence between them as the only sound came from the rain crashing down onto the leaves and the earth. Harumi shivered and moved closer to Fuji to try and preserve some body heat.

"Is it still different? Between you?" Fuji suddenly asked.

Harumi froze, and then slowly turned to face him, not sure if she had heard right. However, he wasn't looking at her, but seemed absorbed by the rain falling all around them. The young girl chewed on her lip and decided to take it as a joke. She bumped her shoulder with his and teased: "Why, are you jealous?"

Fuji suddenly grabbed her hand. "No. Seriously."

Harumi frowned, and then removed her hand from his, which finally forced him to look at her in the eye. "Seriously?" She echoed incredulously.

She rubbed her forehead, before looking at him straight on. "Do you even need to ask that question?"

Fuji's eyes were very blue when he said: "I want to hear you say it."

Harumi eyed Fuji for a long moment, speechless. "Are you doubting my feelings for you, Fuji Syusuke?"

"No, Harumi, no. I'm just asking you a question. Can't you just answer it?"

Harumi resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I've told you how I feel a million times, and even if I don't say anything… you should know! And I wouldn't mind saying it to you now if not for the fact that you are literally forcing me to." She finished with her voice climbing in decibel levels at every sentence.

Fuji closed his eyes and raised both hands to pacify her, but that made her even angrier.

"But if you really want me to say it, fine I'll say it! Fuji, I love you. There is no one else other than you. After spending three years away from you, I didn't come back here just to hook up with someone else. That would be pretty damn stupid, don't you think? And now, guess what. It's my turn! Why don't you answer the same question, mm? Do you love me? Have you hooked up with anyone else when we were apart?"

Fuji brusquely turned to face her, and for a second she was taken aback at the cold fury she saw in his eyes. It was the first time she saw that kind of anger directed at her, and she tensed up involuntarily.

"You don't get to ask the questions – he finally said through gritted teeth – you were the one who left. YOU."

He then stood up and stomped away under the rain. Harumi watched him go, her mind numb, and unsure of what had just happened. But most of all, she was outraged!

"What is his problem?" she muttered angrily at his retreating back.

* * *

><p><em>Hey guys! I know, I was supposed to post this last Sunday, but things have been super hectic this week and last week, so I didn't get the chance to. Besides, I got super wasted this weekend at a Halloween party haha :p But I made this chapter super long to compensate for all that!<br>_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the read! And thank you all for your reviews! I love them! And happy Halloween! What are you dressing up as this year? I was... dum dum dum... catwoman! :p_


	7. The beginning of secrets

_Guys, yes, I'm alive. I'm busy with work lately, but I've been writing the rest of this story, so not to worry! loll . Thanks a lot for your reviews, love them, adore them, need them, etc! haha so keep them coming! :)_

* * *

><p><strong>The beginning of secrets<strong>

Minutes later, the sun was peeking again from behind the rainclouds. Everyone had been drenched from head to toes though. Amaya and Oishi were busy chasing each other, laughing, as they kicked rainwater onto each other's legs.

From her place under the underbrush, Harumi was seething. Her eyes followed as Fuji moved to go converse with Takasan and Naoko. He looked relaxed, like he didn't just act like a jerk and walked away from her. How could he act this way?

She finally stood up and brusquely wriggled her shirt to get some of the water out. Amaya came near her and shook her wet hair playfully.

"Everything ok?"

Harumi eyed her seriously, and then told her about what happened. One of Amaya's eyebrows went up in a frown, before she patted Harumi's shoulder sympathetically.

"Guys can get pretty insecure sometimes. You just need to cajole them and tell them what they want to hear. It's no big deal. If you go to him now and tell him that he's your one and only, I'm sure he will greet you with open arms, while violins play in the background during your reunion."

Harumi rolled her eyes. "Are you implying that I was wrong?" she demanded unhappily.

Amaya sighed. "No one was wrong. All I'm saying is that you can just go along with him when this happens, so that you guys don't have to fight afterwards."

"I don't know, Amaya. I think he blames me for having left. But he should know better than anyone that he was the one who…"

She cut herself off and shook her head furiously, feeling the anger come right back.

Amaya seemed like she wanted to say something, but Harumi beat her to it.

"Back then, I didn't want to leave. I was ready to elope with him or something to prevent my deportation from happening. But guess what? Who was the Mr. Righteous who fed me some blabla about my family needing me more? And who's the jerk who told me he'd wait patiently for me here till the day that I come back? I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest when I decided I would listen to him, and trust him, and LEAVE. But now that I'm back, he says what?"

Harumi's purple eyes were blazing. "He blames ME for leaving? He says that I LEFT him? I'm going to kill him!"

She felt tears pickling at the corners of her eyes and forcefully swallowed them back. She would NOT cry because of him right now.

Amaya sighed by her side, and then grabbed her by the elbows.

"Harumi, listen to me. He shouldn't have said that to you. He really shouldn't have. I think he was just angry and didn't mean it."

"I don't care how angry he was, because I don't even know why he was so angry, but he had no right to talk to me like that!"

"I know, I know." Amaya conceded soothingly.

The raven haired girl was unsure about what else to say, when Tezuka came to find them to urge them off the plateau in order to continue their hike.

"We have to reach the summit tonight. If we don't, we probably won't be able to set camp, and that means we will have to sleep out in the open."

Chiharu shuddered at that. "No way! Let's go quickly, guys."

"Let's go, Harumi," Amaya prompted gently. Harumi followed her without a word.

When they reached the others, they walked right into the middle of one of Momo and Kaidoh's typical bickering fits.

"Well, if we are stuck here, that would probably give Mamoushi here an opportunity to socialize with the mountain wild life," Momo stated mockingly, which earned him a kick in the shin from Kaidoh that left Momo rolling on the ground with pain.

"Such violence! You'll pay for this, you sure will."

"Shut up, or I'll ask the wild life to eat you alive!"

"Oh, so you admit you do communicate with them!" Momo exclaimed victoriously.

Kaidoh looked ready to explode. "Do you want your other shin to be incapacitated too?"

Momo quickly sobered up at that.

Everyone went down the little hill carefully, using their hands to balance themselves on the way down. Harumi was about to descend the hill when Mai cut in front of her. Harumi was really not in the mood to deal with her, so she tried to pass beside her, but Mai moved to block her way. Harumi looked around and saw that they were the last two left on top of the plateau.

_Great. This is just great._

"What?" she snapped.

Mai lowered her grey eyes, before rising them again to meet Harumi's.

"I just realized something. If I want to be with Kikumaru, I need to start pursuing him more actively."

Mai was eyeing her as she said those words, and Harumi just stared back. "Ok? Well… good luck?"

_What else does she want me to say? Is she asking me for permission? Is this a challenge?_

She moved past her and walked away.

Mai watched her go, her fists clenching. "So don't even try interfering, Yamazaki."

Afterwards, the group had a quick lunch, perched on big rocks or fallen tree trunks or just sitting on the inclined ground of the mountain. Harumi caught Fuji looking at her multiple times, and he even tried to make moves to approach her, but she evaded him every time. She was somewhat soothed though to see that he at least had the decency to look a little contrite and guilty now. Honestly, Harumi wasn't someone who couldn't admit that she was wrong, but back there on the plateau, it had been entirely his fault.

And now they had resumed their climb. Harumi walked ahead energetically, determined not to look back at the rest of the group. She would focus all her energy on the act of climbing, and maybe her thoughts would leave her alone.

"Are you waiting for him to come talk to you first?" Amaya panted behind her, trying to keep up.

Harumi didn't slow down in her ascent. "Yup."

"I've been talking to Oishi about this, and he's actually urging me to come ask you if you guys are ok now."

This made the honey haired girl stop and turn around. "Really?" She asked, surprised.

Amaya finally came to her level and put her hands on her knees, panting for air. "Yeah… really. He must be quite worried about Fuji. They're good friends and all."

Harumi made a non concomitant sound and pursued the climb. "Is he still close to both Fuji and Eiji?"

"Well... actually, the Golden Pair has broken up ever since high school. Oishi and Eiji were mainly in different classes, and Eiji was going through his whole rebellious and ruminating phase. Oishi maintained a stable relationship with Fuji, but I know he still cares about Eiji a lot, and vice versa."

Harumi turned this in her mind._ Eiji? Rebellious? I can't see it. What the hell happened to him? If Oishi is not his best friend anymore, then who is?  
><em>

The image of Kirihara came to mind but she pushed it away.

"Ridiculous," she murmured.

At that moment, Eiji came back to their little group from another one of his solo expeditions.

"Where have you been all this time? – Mai demanded quietly– I told you not to wander off by yourself."

Eiji made an impatient face at her, and then beamed at the rest of the group, proudly showing off what he had between his arms. "Look guys, I found some wild fruits! After that meager lunch we had back there, I think we could all use some dessert, ok?" He closed an eye playfully.

Naoki approached and eyed the fruits suspiciously. "Are you sure they are edible?"

Kaidoh hissed his approval. "I agree with the dumb blonde for once. I do not trust this!"

Naoki's mouth formed a perfect O of indignation. "Did you just call me a dumb blonde, you animal freak?"

Momo pumped Kaidoh's chest with his fist. "Yeah, don't be rude to the lady! I bet that even if the fruits were poisonous, you wouldn't have a problem digesting them, being so close to the wild life and all."

Kaidoh's pupils grew black. "You guys must have a serious death wish." He launched at them, chasing after them back down the hill, with Naoki screaming amusedly, and Momo laughing his ass off.

Eiji frowned at the grass they had uprooted from their brusque departure. "Crazy people! No, of course it's not poisoned! I think I recognize them from biology class."

"Oh yeah? What's the name?" Chiharu asked, not at all convinced.

Eiji stared, and then tried to scratch his head, before giving up since his arms were full. "Uh… something… something… I think it was in Latin."

"Latin?" Oishi frowned. "Eiji, I don't think fruits' names are usually given in Latin."

Eiji stomped his feet. "A-ny-way, that's not important. I remember the picture from the book! It's the same as these! Look, even the little scratches along the sides are the same!" He said while pointing in the vague direction of the fruits with his chin.

Tezuka came close and picked one up.

"Buchou!" Eiji exclaimed, touched by this act of trust.

But Tezuka merely held it up between his fingers and twirled it. His glasses flashed as he gave the fruit back. "I better not let my guard down," he simply said.

"Wow, finally he applies that statement to himself," Harumi murmured amusedly.

"So? Who wants to try one?" The redhead pouted.

"Why don't you have one yourself? If you don't die, then we will know it's safe. And if you do die, well…then we shouldn't have it."

Everyone turned to Fuji, who had just spoken the words. However, he wasn't paying attention to the exchange as he was in the middle of taking the picture of a small squirrel perched up on a nearby tree branch.

Mai frowned and was about to open her mouth to say something, but Inui held her back. Chiharu and Naoki looked at each other, wondering if they should laugh. Harumi held her breath at the words, because 1. It was the first time that she heard Fuji speaking to Eiji directly, and 2. That wasn't funny. Since she was already pissed at him, she was even more pissed at him now.

Harumi saw Eiji's eyes harden for a split second, before he laughed. "Your sense of humor is so dry, Fujiko. Whatever, I'll eat one and prove to you all that it's safe!" The redhead's gestures were full of challenge as he picked up a red fruit.

"Wait Eiji, don't!" Mai yelled at him in alarm.

Then she backed away in surprise, along with Eiji, when Harumi suddenly stole the fruit from his fingers and threw it in her mouth.

"I think I know those – she said in between chewing – I'm pretty sure they're edible. They are quite good too."

"Harumi!" Eiji spoke up, confused and a little grateful.

And then Fuji was grabbing her wrist. "Spit that out!"

"Too late," she mumbled, and tried to break free, but he was holding her hard. "Stop it. It's fine!"

"Fine? No, it's not fine. Don't you know how dangerous it is to be eating fruits you don't know?"

She could see that he was genuinely concerned for her, but that just angered her more. Did he really think Eiji would try to poison them all on purpose?

Harumi tried to break free again. "Syusuke, you're hurting me. Let go."

Fuji's hand remained on her wrist, and his concern was now replaced by fury. "Why did you do something so s…"

"Stupid?" Harumi screamed before he could. "How is this stupid? Do you honestly think that Eiji would hurt ALL of us here?"

"Not consciously, no – Fuji tried to reason with her, seeing her so riled up – but sometimes he doesn't know what he's doing."

"Oh, and you know what you are doing? For someone who knows so much, you sure seem to have chosen to forget exactly who begged who to leave three years ago!" She threw the words at him, forgetting that all their friends were now listening.

Fuji looked around at the shocked expression on their friends' faces, and whispered: "Don't make this about us now."

Harumi took advantage of his now loose grip to break free. She seemed to gain consciousness of all the audience they were attracting, and wordlessly turned on her heels and started climbing the mountain once more, ignoring the calls that some of her friends directed in her direction.

Eiji just watched her go gravely.

_This is it. I've had it!_

She wanted to go home now, and yet she kept climbing higher and higher instead.

Back on lower grounds, Amaya finally unfroze and started running after her. Eiji let the fruits drop at his feet in a cascade of red, and walked away as well. He passed beside Fuji without looking at him, but the tensai opened his eyes and stared at him fixedly.

Mai grabbed Oishi by the arm and pulled him our of sight of the others.

"Why are Harumi and Fuji fighting more than ever?" the ex-captain of the girls' tennis team asked angrily. "Didn't you ask Amaya to help them make up?"

"I did!" he retorted defensively. "But it's not that simple. What's your problem anyway? This is Fuji and Harumi's problem. Why do you have to meddle?"

Mai crossed her arms coldly. "I must have overestimated your brains, Oishi. This is about Eiji! If Harumi and Fuji fight, then... then... Harumi and Eiji might start talking again! And I don't want that. _We_ don't want that."

Oishi balled his hands into fists and looked down at the forest ground.

After awhile, he let out in a crisped voice: "I got it."

Mai's hazel eyes lost a bit of their intensity. "Good."

* * *

><p>When Harumi finally reached the peak of the Rokko Mountains, it was a memorable experience to say the least. The scenery all around her was breathtaking. The sky looked incredibly close, and she felt like she could touch the clouds if she just jumped a little higher.<p>

"Amazing…"

The wind was cooler at the top too, with an eternal lingering sense of winter in its breeze. Everybody else was hugging and high fiving each other, like they'd just accomplished the feat of climbing mount Everest. The euphoria and sense of accomplishment swelling in Harumi's heart had to be somewhat akin to what the Mount Everest climbers had felt.

In front of her, at the edge of the cliff, she could see the other sides of the mountain extending towards far away, and eventually reaching down to the city. To the West, where there were no trees and vegetation, she could see some far away houses, and the highway, with little toy-like cars travelling up and down its length; and beyond, the shiny blue ocean.

From the other side of the plateau, she caught Fuji's eyes, and sighed. She really wanted to share this experience with him. Screw whatever differences they had before.

Actually no, scratch that, he had to understand how wrong he had been acting since the morning.

An arm passed around her neck and Naoki's radiant face obscured her vision for awhile. "Hey girl, whatcha standing there for? Let's take a picture!"

Harumi tried to peek over her shoulder, but Fuji had already turned away to look at the scenery with Tezuka. She bit her lip and waited for Naoki as she fumbled with her cellphone. In the meantime, Naoko had joined them, pulling Momo and Kaidoh each by one arm.

"Group picture guys, come on!"

On the summit, there were other groups of hikers relaxing, or setting camp and eating, and some were observing the whole group of teenagers with either amusement or annoyance. Tezuka asked a man who was passing by whether he could take a picture of the whole group.

Harumi found herself being pushed to the middle by her friends, and soon everyone was hollering and waving at the camera.

"Calm down guys, it's not a freaking videotape he's taking. Just strike a cool pose and be still." Naoki complained while trying to push off the arms that Momo was excitedly waving over her head.

Harumi searched Fuji, but he was on the outside of the group. She tried to push her way towards him, but the man taking the picture had started the countdown, and so she held still, and tried to give off her best smile.

The man took three more shots and then returned the camera to Tezuka, who thanked him profusely.

"You gotta send us the picture later, captain!" Chiharu said.

Tezuka simply nodded.

Harumi saw Fuji walking towards the edge of the cliff again, and after a moment of hesitation, quickly ran after him.

_Fine, I will be the first to talk to him._

She watched as the brunette climbed on top of a rock nestled on the ground; he sat on top of it and balanced his legs over the edge.

She walked over to him.

Fuji saw her coming and extended a hand to help her up. He was wearing a slight smile, and Harumi beamed back hesitantly. This might just go well. She took the hand he was offering and he slowly eased her up beside him.

For a moment, they just contemplated the scenery in silence. Harumi knew that the peace they had at the moment was only on the surface. They really needed to talk.

"Syusuke…"

She started, but Fuji put a finger against her lips to silence her, and then backed away a little from her and held up his camera.

"Smile!" He said gently as he peeked into the lens.

Harumi chuckled, and then settled for her best colgate smile.

After three more poses, Harumi held up her camera and took a picture of him taking a picture of her. They both lowered their cameras and laughed.

Peering into his sky blue eyes, Harumi dreaded the upcoming conversation more than ever, but she knew it had to be done.

Fuji surprised her by speaking up first:

"I'm really sorry Harumi. I know I didn't treat you right today. I know what you want to say, but you don't need to say it. Because I know."

Harumi bit her lip and waited. Fuji sighed and let his gaze wander to the mountain slopes.

"I didn't mean to walk away from you back there. And I didn't mean to scream at you either and grab your hand. It's unlike me. But… I was angry at myself. Because I can't face you anymore, not after…"

He sighed heavily and looked at a loss at to what to say next.

Harumi frowned: "Not after what?"

Fuji's eyes were brimming intensely, as he tapped on the rock nervously.

"It's not important," he finally said. "Just know that I'm sorry about earlier."

She let the silence stretch between them as she pondered what he was not telling her.

"Do you regret asking me to leave three years ago?" she finally asked.

Fuji suddenly looked up at her intently. "Yes." His tone was firm. "That's the worst decision I've ever made."

Harumi was taken aback at this. Then, her eyes softened and she cupped his face in her hand. "But I'm back now, aren't I? And I tell you that I love you plenty of times. You have no reason to doubt that, alright?"

Fuji closed his eyes and kissed the palm of her hand. "I know. I was stupid. I shouldn't have thought that…"

"That there's still something between me and Eiji?" She asked. She knew they had to go there.

Fuji paused, and then nodded.

This point always made Harumi a little angry. "Syusuke, I…"

_I left him for you three years ago!_

"You've seen what we've become now. I don't even know if there's friendship between us anymore. I don't know where we stand and… I don't care. Alright? I don't care because I know where WE stand, and that's all I need."

She saw a glimpse of a tortured expression on Fuji's face before he hid it away by masking his face with a hand. She frowned.

_What is he not telling me?_

"Syusuke?"

When he looked up at her, his eyes had a new intensity to them, like he had just made a decision.

"I know where we stand too, and that's all that matters to me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

_I know this already. But why did he have that expression just now? There's something he's not telling me. And same with Eiji. There's something he's not telling me either. Wait, why am I thinking about Eiji?_

She closed her eyes hard to block out her thoughts. She was too confused. She needed to focus on one thing at a time, and now it should be about Fuji.

She crouched down beside him and held his head against her chest, running her fingers lovingly among his brown locks, hoping he'd feel her forgiveness in her caress. Fuji grabbed her arms and made her sit close beside him.

"I love you," he whispered.

She smiled against his head. "I know."

* * *

><p>Something caught Naoko's gaze and she smiled. "Hey sister, the lovebirds have made up."<p>

Naoki looked up from the piece of dried meat she was chewing, and then went back to her business. "Yeah, always thought they would. No drama at all, how boring."

"Instead of saying that, why don't you come help us set up the tents? We still have a few hours of sun left. Let's not waste them," Amaya said from a few meters away, while blowing a strand of black hair away from her eyes.

Naoki sighed and obliged.

"Where is Oishi anyway? That lazybum… how can he disappear every time there is work to be done?" Amaya pursued impatiently, quietly looking around camp. Oishi was indeed nowhere to be seen.

"Hey guys, have you seen Mai?" Eiji asked, after dropping a load of wood inside the circle of the would-be camp fire.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her since the group picture." Naoko replied pensively.

Naoki grabbed Eiji and Amaya by the shoulders and pulled them close. "Neh.. neh.. Oishi and Mai both missing at the same time. Could it be…?"

Eiji and Amaya both stared at her like she'd gone nuts. "No way," they replied at the same time before walking away.

"Never be too sure of something. Things aren't always what they seem," she screamed after them teasingly.

"I do have a hunch that they are together right now though," she added to herself, and her blue eyes turned serious.

Naoko heard her. "They have grown pretty close since the first time that Mai confessed to Eiji but got rejected."

Naoki narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe they got close because Oishi wanted to comfort her. Why would he? They have never truly spoken before. Unless something happened. But what? It can't be something trivial, because the fact that Amaya hasn't noticed is a telltale clue. Anyway, whatever they are up to, I will know."

Soon, the fire was blaring, and Chiharu started planting marshmallows on the sticks. Takasan and Kaidoh came to help her. She looked around and saw all their friends dispersed. She spotted Fuji and Harumi still huddled close together on the rock at the edge of camp, and sighed. How long was their reconciliation after party going to last? It was getting so cheesy that it made her sick.

Eiji walked past her, conversing with Momo, and suddenly she got an idea.

"Hey Kikumaru!" she called out to him merrily.

Eiji stopped in his tracks and joined her. "Nani?"

"Go fetch Fuji and Harumi would you? The food's almost ready."

Eiji looked at the couple on the rock and then back at her, but she was already busying herself. After a few seconds, he set down the bag he was carrying and started walking towards the rock. Chiharu smirked. She had thought he would need more persuasion to go. Interesting.

"Mmm, I think I smell the food," Harumi said, her face cuddled in the nook of Fuji's shoulder.

"Yes, it's so wrong of us to let them do all the work."

She laughed at this, and he smiled back.

"We should probably go," she proposed reluctantly.

Truth was, cuddling against Fuji for the first time that day felt pretty damn good. She wasn't sure she wanted to stop cuddling. Ever. And she also liked the way that Fuji was unconsciously rubbing small circles against her shoulder with his thumb. It felt good.

"Just one more minute?" He pleaded softly against her ear, his warm breath sending shivers along her spine. For an answer, she just settled back against his shoulder more comfortably. After all, she was never good at saying no to his gentle pleas.

"Knock, knock!" A loud voice suddenly rose from behind them.

Harumi and Fuji turned around to see Eiji knocking a hand against the rock and observing them carefully.

"You guys better hurry up if you wanna eat. Don't you know our friends are not very nice people? They would leave you with no dinner without a second thought." He snorted at Fuji's raise eyebrow. "What, don't believe me? Fine, I did my job of telling you. Don't blame me later if you don't get any dinner."

Eiji turned to go, but Harumi stood up.

"Thanks," she said simply.

Eiji dismissed her answer with a wave of his hand, not turning around.

Harumi turned towards Fuji, who just shrugged. The brunette then jumped off the rock. Harumi was ready to follow him, but paused at the edge. It was higher off the ground that she had anticipated.

Fuji turned around, and seeing her still upon the rock, walked back to her. Harumi stuck out her tongue at him. "If I jump down, will you catch me?"

Fuji's eyes twinkled teasingly. "Maybe."

He extended his arms nonetheless.

Harumi laughed and was about to step forward when her untied shoelace got caught in a fissure of the rock and she almost lost her balance, knocking her toes against the surface of the rock.

"Ita, ita!" She said while holding her foot in one hand, and jumping up and down on her other foot.

Fuji laughed. "Careful! Stop jumping!"

Harumi didn't listen to him. "Maybe I'm jumping down at the next hop, so you better be ready, Fuji Syusuke."

Fuji extended his arms again. "Alright, alright."

Then, several things happened at once.

Still laughing, Harumi hopped one last time and was going to jump off the rock, when the rock uprooted itself from the ground. The movement made her stumble back a little, and she wobbled, a smile still upon her lips, not fully realizing what was going on. In the next half second, the rock was toppling backwards, towards the vertiginous cliff behind.


	8. The cave

**The cave**

"Oh…" Harumi managed to get out before she was falling on all fours, gripping the rock. She crossed the dumbfounded and wide eyes of her boyfriend before terror gripped her like vicious vines. In the next second, Fuji was leaping forward, both hands grabbing the rock, trying to prevent it from toppling backwards by sheer strength.

However, the rock and its momentum were too overpowering. The base of the rock was already crumbling into smaller pieces that rolled down the cliff in a string of dry sounds.

And then Eiji was beside Fuji still gripping the rock, and he leaped onto it. The redhead's extra weight made the rock stop moving for a second, and Harumi finally let out a breath by screaming. Her panicked eyes clung to Eiji's widened pupils as she desperately clung her fingers to the nooks in the cold stone.

Eiji lashed out a hand towards her. "Grab it! Grab it!" He screamed urgently.

Harumi let out a terrorized sob but her hands were fixed in a death grip on the rock. She shook her head frantically, the wind blowing her hair in her face, blinding her. The rock was pursuing its inevitable descent and …

_Oh God, I'm going to die._

Groaning, Eiji propelled himself further and grabbed her by the forearm. With a wild cry, he half lifted Harumi by the arm before throwing her off the rock, to the side of the cliff.

Harumi's side knocked harshly against the cliff side and she desperately lashed out to grab onto something. Her right hand entangled itself around a vine-like structure, and she dug her nails into the dirt. The cliff was steep, and so she had to kick her feet wildly against the sides of it for a while before they found a weak support made of plants and little rocks.

Beside her, the big rock tumbled off in a cloud of dust and rumble of noise.

_Eiji!_

The redhead had jumped off the rock a split second before it had started rolling down the cliff, and he landed close to Harumi, but a few distance below. The downslope was even steeper down there and the ground was bare of vegetation. Eiji tried to dig his hands into the dirt but his weight was carrying him downwards.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw that he was slipping further and further, his efforts to hold on futile. Without thinking, she reached down her left arm and grabbed him by the wrist, securing him in place. The resulting strain on her body from holding another person tore a little cry from her throat, but she held on. Her right hand gripping the vine was killing her, and she felt as though her shoulder muscles would rip any second, but still, she held on.

And then Fuji was above her, screaming her name, and throwing an arm down at her, asking her to grab it. Harumi lifted her face towards him with a grimace of effort and pain, but she was immobilized. Fuji was lying on his stomach, pushing his arm down gradually, his blue eyes frantic. But still it wasn't enough.

Soon, there were other people beside him. Harumi couldn't make out their faces at all. They all looked like colorless shadows. Even her focus on Fuji's face was starting to blur.

"Harumi!"

She heard her name being shouted by a cacophony of voices. Finally, when her hand had almost slipped from the vine, no matter how hard she tried to hold on, Fuji managed to grab her wrist.

"I got you!" He yelled.

He tried to pull her up, but he couldn't master enough force in his position, and he screamed as his grip on her wrist started to slip.

Harumi grimaced and looked down at Eiji, who was still kicking wildly to maintain some hold on the mountain side.

Above her, Fuji was shouting for the other people to help him. Harumi reported her attention upwards.

"Hold on!" He pleaded to her, his voice hoarse.

"Syusuke… !" She called out desperately. Faintly, she noticed that her voice had never been so high with fright.

Her chest was heaving up and down frantically, and she could feel her vision blackening again. Suddenly, there was a brusque shake from her left hand. She looked down, and saw Eiji trying to break free from her.

That jolted her back to alertness.

"What are you doing? Stop!" She yelled down at him.

Eiji looked up at her, his eyes determined. "Fuji can't pull the both of us up. We're too heavy. Let me go! I've got this!"

Harumi's eyes widened. "What are saying? STOP!" She yelled louder as his next movement almost snatched his wrist away from her grip.

"DON'T BE AN IDIOT!"

She looked down and saw that his feet were still slipping on the slope.

"You've got this, my ass!" She tightened her grip around his wrist painfully. "I'm not letting you go!"

Eiji huffed out an impatient breath. "I will be fine! Let Fuji pull you up! I will be fine, believe me!"

Harumi stared down into his wide eyes. He cracked a small smile up at her, but for the first time ever since she came back, she could read him. She could read him, and he was just as scared as she was. She was not letting go.

"Harumi!" Fuji yelled, an edge of panic evident in his voice.

Eiji tried once again to shake her off and almost succeeded. At the same time, she felt her other hand slipping gradually from Fuji's grip. He was merely holding her by the fingers now. Heart pounding wildly, she shut her eyes tight and bit her lip until she tasted blood.

"Please… please…" She begged.

And then her right hand was snatched away from Fuji's.

Harumi's eyes snapped open, and she stared at the mountain slope in front of her face. There was a split second where she tried to literally dig her feet through the hard dirt, but then she was falling backwards, the distance between her body and mountain side increasingly slowly and gradually at first, and then rapidly.

"HARUMI!" "Eiji!"

People screaming their names was the last thing she heard before there was collision between her body and the side of the mountain some distance further down, and she was rolling down, faster and faster, through grass, twigs, rocks and roots. The vision in front of her eyes was an alternation of brown, green and blue, brown, green and blue, until the colors were all mixed together like a vortex, and she had to shut her eyes. She couldn't breathe and couldn't think, and couldn't even feel the collisions with the ground anymore.

She couldn't feel them because there was a moment of free fall, and then one final collision, and then it stopped.

She didn't know how long she stayed knocked into a daze, with the world behind her closed eyelids swirling, before she finally sucked in a breath. She coughed and spat out leaves and dirt from her mouth, and realized that she was lying on her side, with her face smashed against the grass. She opened her eyes and blinked away dust from her eyelashes as the world danced and jumped in front of her.

She stayed in that sideways position, and just waited. Waited until her heart rate slowed down, and the heaving breaths she was drawing slowly returned to a more normal frequency.

Everything seemed deadly silent around her, until she swallowed, grimacing at the dryness of her throat.

Her ears unblocked with a little pop. And then there was the sound of a bird flitting to a tree. The scent of grass. Of bark. Of the dampness of the earth beneath the grass and moss.

Her eyelids fluttered open when she felt movement beside her. And then Eiji was by her side, shaking her carefully, calling out her name.

With his help, she slowly sat up and shook her head to clear out the ringing sound that had started to assault her ears.

"Are you okay?" She managed to hear Eiji say. She blinked a few more times. "Oww. I think so?"

"Can you stand?"

He pulled her up into an upright posture. At first the world tilted a little on its axis, but soon it was stable again. She blinked once more and felt all her senses returning to her one by one.

She reported her attention on the redhead, who was looking at her anxiously. Her eyes travelled up and down his body, but except for the scratch on his cheek, he seemed fine. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Um…" Eiji was saying as he lifted his arm. "You can let go now."

She realized with a jolt that she hadn't let go of his wrist all this time. It was kind of hard to unclench her fingers because they were stiff in their grip, but when she did, she saw she had left deep red traces on his skin.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she shuffled timidly on her feet.

Eiji just stared at her for a minute, before flicking her on the forehead.

"Oww! What did you do that for?"

"Baka Harumi! You should have just let go of me when I asked you to!"

She put her hands on her hips. "Yeah… about THAT. How dare you ask me to drop you into the void in the first place? You are so… - she pursed her lips together – you are a fool, that's what you are!"

Not waiting for his reply, which she knew would be some form of protest, she turned away from him to scan their surroundings instead. The cliff they had fallen down from was beside them, and there was vegetation and some trees on the whole length of it, actually masking the higher up place where the others were.

She tried to listen, but all was quiet except for the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects, she turned back to face Eiji.

"It seems like we've fallen quite a way down. The others must be worried sick!"

"There must be a path we can take to go back up there," the red head said as he scanned the surroundings.

She watched him in concern, and he just returned a cat-like grin. "Don't worry Harumi. I will get you back safe and sound! I remember doing some scouting in my second year of elementary school, and I was team leader back then!"

She sighed at his enthusiasm in this situation.

He had started walking now, so she just followed after him silently, paying attention to not brush against any of the thorny bushes growing along their path.

They walked a long moment in silence, with Eiji parting low branches and tall bushes with one hand to make it easier for her to pass. The cliff was still steep on their left, and the ground was uneven. Eiji was hoping to walk to a place where the cliff would become a hikable path, but so far it was as steep as ever, and the sun was setting.

Harumi knew she should have been worried, but fixing her eyes onto Eiji's broad back and following him along the shadowy underbrush slowly being eaten away by evening shadows somehow conferred upon her a sense of calm. She didn't know if Eiji knew where he was going, but she felt as though she could trust him.

_He's always made me feel safe. It's still the same after all this time. It hasn't changed. _He_ hasn't changed… has he? _

Suddenly, the answer to that question seemed very important to her.

Eiji chose this moment to turn around. His eyes were gleaming a little in the growing darkness, and he was looking at her so intensely that she froze in her steps.

Everything was silent around them all of a sudden, and Harumi swallowed down her heart that had suddenly leapt to her throat.

_Why is he looking at me like that?_

"I'm lost," Eiji suddenly let out petulantly.

Harumi almost fell on her head.

_That's it? _

"We've been walking for like forever! Have you been lost all this time?"

Eiji scratched his head guiltily. "It's not my fault! I've never come to these mountains before."

"It's gonna be night soon, and we are stuck in the woods with no tent and no food," Harumi spoke out slowly, trying to confirm with Eiji that this was indeed their predicament.

The redhead confirmed her words with a solemn nod of his head.

"Great. Now what?"

"Maybe we can go down and see if we can reach a flat area?" he proposed.

It didn't sound encouraging, but it was better than nothing.

So Eiji started shuffling down the slope slowly, and Harumi followed after him, letting out a curse or two every time she stepped on a loose rock or a slippery patch of grass.

A small drizzle had started falling too, and she felt herself sigh. This was not what she had envisioned for this trip.

"Careful, there is a tree root here," Eiji's voice reached her from below.

She nodded and carefully stepped over it.

A couple of more steps down and the ground finally evened out as she came to a flatter area. That was the good news. The bad news was that the drizzle had intensified into a regular shower. Harumi wiped away rain from her eyes and tried to find Eiji in the darkness.

Her heart leapt in fear when she didn't see him anywhere.

"E-Eiji?" She yelled over the rain.

There was no answer. She wiped at her face again and looked around in a panic, scanning the surrounding trees. He couldn't have abandoned her, could he? He couldn't have left her all alone?

She frantically ran forward a few steps, tripping a little. She was about to scream out his name again when she saw him coming towards her from between two trees.

She ran to him. "Where were you?" she asked him a little more shrilly than intended.

He rubbed his left wrist. "I went ahead to scout. Good news! There is a path that seems to lead…"

His voice died down at the trembling in her chin as rain rolled down her cheeks. For a second, he just considered her with wide eyes, and then a soft light danced in his eyes. "I would never go off without you, Harumi."

Harumi drew a steadying breath. "I know."

"Stay close," he offered, and then turned to walk towards the path he had discovered.

Harumi strutted after him and fell one step behind him. The sun had set completely now. She never knew it could be this dark in the mountains when there was no campfire and the stars were masked by rain clouds.

She reached out a hand to Eiji's walking figure, wanting to seize a piece of his shirt, but her fingers hovered hesitantly in mid-air. Finally, she slowly put her hand back down instead.

The rain was coming down harder and harder, and Harumi was now cold and very worried as she tried to shield her face from the rain as best she could.

"I see a cave!" Eiji's voice reached her, filled with hope.

They both sprinted forward and finally found themselves sheltered from the rain. The cave was damp and gloomy, and the floor was cold, but both Eiji and Harumi let out a sigh of relief.

They watched the rain fall down outside for a few minutes, and then Eiji half turned to Harumi and said: "I guess we have no choice but to stay here."

_For the night! _

She just nodded wordlessly.

Eiji slid onto the floor of the cave with his back against one of the walls, and for a second Harumi saw him make a grimace of pain. She crouched in front of him. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

Eiji tried to blink confusedly, but he rubbed his left wrist again, unconsciously.

Harumi's eyes darted there. "Let me see your wrist," she demanded.

The redhead cradled it protectively in his other hand and turned away from her. "It's nothing!"

She reached out and took his arm, and Eiji betrayed another expression of pain at her touch.

"It's swollen!" She exclaimed. "Did you sprain it when we fell down?"

He pouted. "Yeah, a little. But it's not broken or anything."

Harumi bit her lower lip guiltily, remembering how Eiji had still parted the vegetation for her during their whole strike through the woods.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" she chided.

"It wasn't this bad before." Eiji answered with a grin that he wanted comforting. "It will probably be all better tomorrow."

She rolled her eyes.

_Boys and their pride!_

Carefully, she put his arm back on his lap. Then, she lifted one side of her tshirt and ripped it under Eiji's astounded eyes.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed.

Harumi didn't answer; instead, she seized Eiji's arm again and started wrapping the ripped tissue around it. "I don't know if it's going to help, but it's better than nothing," she muttered as she worked.

Eiji lifted his eyes from his hand to her face and looked at the way her purple eyes shone with concentration in the dimness of the cave. For a few minutes, none of them spoke and the only sound that could be heard was the drip-drop of the raindrops falling on the roof of the cave and on the grass outside.

After she was done, Eiji stood up and went to sit against the opposite wall. Harumi looked at him wordlessly, and then went to the stand at the opening of the cave, peering outside through the gray curtain of the downpour.

"The others must be worried..." she murmured to herself.

_Fuji must be worried._

She glanced above her shoulder to where the redhead was seated with his stare on the ground and his forearms resting on his bent knees, and suddenly the atmosphere in the cave felt heavy to her. The things that were left unsaid between them suddenly weighed like lead in the air.

She reported her attention back on the rain, and the words "let's try to find a way back to camp" struggled to get across her lips. However, she knew it was a bad idea in this weather and with Eiji's sprained wrist. She just wanted to get back to the others, so that she didn't have to endure this uncomfortable pounding in her heart any longer.

Ironically, she remembered the last time Eiji and her had been in a similar situation. It was back at Atobe's house party. They were both drunk, and had gotten locked in the wine cellar near the pool. But last time, they had been on great terms. And last time, the outcome of the incident had been...

She touched a finger to her lips and closed her eyes hard. Why was she thinking about that now?

"Do you regret it?" Eiji's voice cut through the darkness to reach her ears.

She twirled around vividly. "Eh?"

_What is he talking about? He couldn't have guessed my thoughts, could he?_

She panicked a little, but Eiji just looked up at her, his expression hidden by the night inside the cave.

"You probably regret not letting go of me now, eh? If you did, you would now be back at the camp, around a warm fire. It's getting cold in here."

Harumi stood there like a statue. She could not detect whether he was serious or not. She swallowed past the dry lump in her throat and went to sit against the opposite wall, facing him.

"I told you to stop saying silly things like that," she said in her most casual tone. "I don't regret a thing. Now, sleeping in a cave for one night won't kill us. Tomorrow morning, we are hiking down the mountain to the parking lot. There should be a clinic somewhere near here. You need to get your wrist checked."

Eiji let out a huffing laugh. "Well, here you are worrying about me. Who would have thought?"

Harumi frowned. Ever since she had come back, Eiji had been acting weird like this. One moment he would smile at her like they were friends, and the next he would say something hurtful, as though he just remembered he was not supposed to be nice to her.

_I really don't understand him anymore._

She inhaled deeply and then exhaled. "Eiji, there is something I want to say."

He remained silent.

She tried to gauge his expression, but all she saw were his eyes shining a little in the dark. The drip-drop of the rain outside was suddenly loud in the silence, but she cleared her throat forcefully to break it.

"Three years ago... I know I didn't end it in the best way for us. In fact, it all ended in the worst way possible." She had a bitter smile. "There were a lot of things going on in my life back then, but it was no excuse for what I did to you. The day you found that picture in my wallet... was the day that I planned on telling you about Fuji and me. But then, I got the news about my parents and all went to hell from there, as you well know."

She sighed and hugged her knees against her chest.

"You said before that you were okay with letting me go, but obviously that was a lie. Because otherwise why would you act this way towards me? And I don't mean this as an accusation. I deserve every bit of anger from you, but I still really hope someday you can accept my apology."

She swallowed.

"Eiji, I'm going to apologize a hundred, a thousand times, if necessary. I understand if you can't forgive me, but I _need_ you to know how sor..."

"I already told you that's not it," Eiji cut her off. "Why are you even saying these meaningless things?"

Her eyes widened. "Eh...?"

Eiji stood up and went to crouch down in front of her. She blinked up at his dark shape delineating itself against the opening of the cave.

"Let's suppose for an instant that I want to hear your apology about breaking up with me. But Harumi, you have to understand that you seek that kind of forgiveness from the people you love. From your friends and from your family. But what am I to you? I'm none of those things, so you don't need to apologize, and you don't need my forgiveness either."

The rain had stopped, and it seemed that Harumi's heart had stopped with it. She felt her chin trembling a little as she looked up at Eiji's shadowed silhouette in front of her. Her hands crisped reflexively around her knees and she felt afraid. Afraid that Eiji really hated her for real now.

The rain clouds chose that moment to disperse, letting the light of the moon enter the cave. Harumi found herself looking into Eiji's dark blue eyes, and she startled at the light of sadness she saw in them. That soothed her somehow.

_He doesn't hate me. I don't know why he's saying that when it's hurting him too._

"Why do you say that?" she asked softly. "I don't understand. You came to the airport with Amaya when you could have just told Oishi about it and let him drive. And if all this hostility is not about me breaking up with you three years ago, then what is it about? You were about to tell me something on that plateau before the others came up; what was it?"

She made a gesture towards him, but he pushed her hand away as his eyes hardened. "Why are asking all these questions when you clearly know the answers to them? Have you already forgotten? You want nothing to do with me!"

He stood up abruptly and marched out of the cave. Harumi stayed there in her position, wide eyed and in shock, trying to process what she had just heard. Then, she bounced after him, running in the still wet grass till she caught up with his long strides. She cut in front of him and spread her arms wide defiantly to stop his advance.

"Kikumaru Eiji, what nonsense did you just sprout at me?"

Eiji's eyes widened slightly at her tone, but then it became a scowl. He tried advancing again but she stopped him with a hand to his chest. "Eiji," she stated imperatively, "you misunderstood something. I never ever wanted us to stop being friends! In fact..."

She bit her lip and hesitated, but Eiji had not pushed her hand away this time, so she took courage in that and continued: "In fact, when I was in France, I wanted to talk to you... just to know how you were doing. But I wasn't sure how you would react, so I decided to be a coward and didn't take the initiative. I guess I'm sorry for that too."

She felt defeated now, and stepped away, no longer barring Eiji's route. She just realized how bad their situation really was. She could not blame him for walking away, not anymore.

"But I did." His voice reached her over the fresh scent of rain battered grass.

She chanced a glance his way, and he no longer looked angry, but confused.

"What?" she asked.

In two steps, he was close to her. "I did take the initiative. I sent you emails! Only, you never replied back. And then..."

Harumi's eyes were now two pools of shocked violet. She was speechless as Eiji's mouth moved to say: "And then you said it would be better for the both of us if we no longer had anything to do with each other."

Harumi just stared at him.

* * *

><p>Mai was restless as she paced up and down along their camp. Oishi grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to stop. "Stop it, Mai. This is unlike you!"<p>

"They are together..." she muttered as she bit her thumb. "They are together right now... they are together!"

Oishi sighed. "Is that what you are concerned about? Eiji and Harumi could be hurt for all we know! There is no signals here in the mountains so we can't reach neither of them." He threw an impatient look at the lack of bars on his cellphone screen. "The rain was coming down hard just now so Tezuka forbid any of us to go looking for them, but now that it's easing, we should organize ourselves into search teams."

Mai glanced at Fuji, who was debating heatedly with Tezuka. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but she could easily guess at the content.

"What if Harumi is hurt? We have to go look for her! We can't let her spend the night outside!" Mai mocked as she faked Fuji's voice.

Oishi rolled his eyes. "This is not funny, Mai. Fuji is really worried about Harumi and Eiji, and so are we!"

"No," she corrected sharply. "He's only worried about about Harumi. He doesn't care for Kikumaru at all!"

Oishi was going to protest when Tezuka finally broke free from Fuji to announce in his loud captain's voice: "We are going to organize a search to find Kikumaru and Yamazaki. Do not act alone, but in teams of at least two people. Take all the flashlights you can find. If you don't find them at dawn, come back to camp, every single one of you. Then we will decide what to do together. Understood?"

His glasses glinted ominously, and everybody agreed with a nod. Immediately, Fuji motioned to Takasan, and they both left in the night with flashlights in hand.

Mai grabbed Oishi by the sleeve. "Come on, you are with me."

Oishi yanked free from her. "No, thank you. I'm going with Amaya. She must be wondering where I am."

Mai didn't hesitate when she took hold of his arm again to pull him behind the tree they had been hiding for the past ten minutes. "Don't use that tone with me, Oishi. You _do_ know that we are in this together, right? Once Eiji learns what we did, he won't forgive either of us, and you can say goodbye to your friendship."

Oishi scowled, and an expression of guilt flashed through his green eyes. "I should have never listened to you," he said tiredly. "I should have never made up Harumi's email. I really thought it was for the best back then."

Mai's eyes flashed. "It's too late for regrets. Let's just hurry up and find Eiji and Harumi before he learns the truth."

"Oishi?"

Oishi twirled around to face a surprised Amaya, whose eyes traveled from him to Mai as she came out of the shadow of the tree. Amaya didn't say anything more, but Oishi panicked and started blabbering: "A-Amaya! I-I was just about to go find you..."

Her green eyes rested fixed onto Oishi's scarlet face, and the look of trust he saw in her eyes suddenly made his heart twist into a knot.

"I was looking for you too, Oishi. Let's go find Harumi and Eiji! I'm worried sick for the both of them! Come with us too, Mai!"

She stretched out her hand and Oishi took it hastily. He felt himself shivering. He had never been dishonest in his whole life, and he had never plotted against anyone. If people found out what he did, he would not only lose Eiji, but Amaya as well. She would not trust him again, and he couldn't bear the thought of that. As he followed Amaya into the depths of the woods, he wondered how he had gotten into this mess.

He thought back to the past.

It had all started because he was worried for Eiji, his best friend. Six months had passed ever since Harumi had left, and he still had not recovered. Whether it was anger, sadness or guilt, Eiji had been reduced to a shadow of his former self. He wasn't laughing anymore, nor cooking, nor even playing tennis. The innocent look in his eyes had been replaced by a dull and inexpressive gaze. Eiji had told Oishi how he had let go of Harumi willingly, but Oishi knew how much that decision had killed him inside.

Oishi also knew Eiji had tried several times to call Harumi's cell, but her number had changed when she had moved to France. Eiji didn't have Harumi's email, or else he would have sent her a message. He could have asked any of Harumi's girl friends for that email, but he never did. Perhaps he was hoping that she would contact him first. In any case, six months later, Eiji was ready to crack. He really missed her, and he wanted her back in his life, if only as a friend.

At the time, Mai had already started spending a lot of time with him, trying to cheer him up and cooking for him. However, Eiji always remained indifferent to her advances. Maybe that's why Mai did what she did. She realized that she could not win against Harumi even when the latter was no longer here. That must have been one bitter realization. In any case, she overheard Eiji asking Oishi to ask Amaya for Harumi's email.

Before Oishi could relay that message, Mai had taken him apart to lecture him about how wrong such an action would be. "Think about it," Mai had said, her grey eyes serious. "Yamazaki already chose Fuji. It's all over! You've seen how Kikumaru is these days! It will only make it worse if he renews contact with Yamazaki. It will be like rubbing salt on the wound. Oishi, you are Kikumaru's best friend. You guys are the Golden Pair, so you should understand what's best for him. What Eiji needs now is to move on, to forget about her. God knows if she's even ever coming back."

At the time, Mai's arguments had seemed the wisest thing in the world. But Oishi could now see how wrong he had been in listening to her. He shook his head at himself as he remembered his tense whisper of: "All right, so what do you want me to do?"

Mai's eyes had moved in their sockets as her mind quickly worked. "Tell Kikumaru that Harumi told Amaya she doesn't want him to have her email. If he insists, just tell him Harumi said it's better for the both of them if they no longer have anything to do with each other."

And, God forgive him, Oishi did as told.

* * *

><p>Mwahaha I know I left things on a cliffhanger last time, but what can I say? Sometimes it's fun to leave the story there. Thanks guys for your reviews! Hope to hear some more from you, cuz you know your comments always make me happy, and happy me writes faster! :p<p> 


	9. Breaking the law

**Breaking the law**

Harumi was staring hard into Eiji's face. Her eyes shook with emotion as she unconsciously drew rubbing circles on the wet grass with the point of her shoe.

_I can't believe... I can't believe Oishi did this..._

After Eiji had told her his part of the story, they had quickly pieced the information together to come to the conclusion that Oishi had lied about the emails that Harumi supposedly sent to Amaya in which she said she didn't want to talk to Eiji anymore. The second clear conclusion resulting from all this was that Eiji had spent two years in grief and resentment over nothing.

Eiji marched to a nearby tree and grabbed one of the lower branches till his knuckles turned white. Harumi looked at his broad back, trying to understand how betrayed he must feel at what his supposedly best friend had done. If Amaya had done something like this to her, she didn't know what she would have done.

Harumi took in a deep breath when she arrived to the third clear conclusion.

She walked towards Eiji, her shoes paddling silently on the ground. Eiji still heard her come, because he turned around to face her, his face a mixture of different emotions.

"So you never said you wanted to cut ties with me?" he asked shakily.

Harumi shook her head gently as she looked at him with bright eyes.

"And you said you still want to be friends?"

Harumi nodded just as gently.

"So..."

He couldn't continue and looked down, letting strands of red hair fall over his eyes, suddenly looking like the young boy that she remembered. Before Harumi could think of what to say, he suddenly let out a laugh, which quickly escalated into pearls of laughter that resonated in the trees around them. He laughed till tears peaked at the corner of his eyes.

Harumi watched him, twisting her hands together nervously.

"Eiji..."

"Harumi!" he cut her off. "Do you know what this means?"

Even in the darkness of night, she could see the whiteness of his teeth as he smiled broadly back at her.

"Uh... no?" she staggered at the sudden lightness in his voice.

"It was all a misunderstanding! Now I can say what I truly want to say, and I can do what I want to do."

He approached her, his familiar cat-grin smile in place. "Harumi, one glance at you in that parking lot outside the airport, and I had even forgiven you about wanting to cut ties with me. I was just so happy to see you again! But my mind told me: "no, Eiji, you can't forgive her so easily. Remember, she wants nothing to do with you!" After repeating that enough times to myself, I managed to keep it cool. But truth be told, I just wanted to welcome you back with open arms! I wanted to talk to you like before! I wanted to joke around with you like before! I wanted to forget about all our drama and go back in time to when our biggest worry was to complete the next English essay on time! I just wanted to be your friend again."

Harumi's heart started pounding slowly and loudly. She could count the beats in her head: boum...boum...boum...

She stared up at him helplessly through wide purple eyes, trying to convince herself that this was really happening. She forgot about Oishi's betrayal, stopped worrying about hurt feelings and the guilt she had carried within her for the past three years. She even forgot they were lost in the goddamn woods at night! All she could see was Eiji's semi-hidden face and all she could hear was his cheerful voice saying things that she hadn't even dared dream he'd say again.

While her mind was in ebullition, Eiji was now looking around owlishly. "Well," he was pursuing. "This is no airport, but let's just pretend that those trees over there are the gates to the airport. And this... - he pointed at the boulder he was now leaning against - is my awesome car. Let's go back to that moment at the airport, and let's do our reunion right this time, what do you say?"

Harumi blinked in shock at first, but then her lips stretched into a smile. Slowly, she made her way towards him, her feet shuffling silently on the damp grass.

_This really... is happening right?  
><em>

Eiji stood upright as she stopped in front of him. Then, he opened his arms wide.

"Welcome back, Harumi!" he stated enthusiastically.

Harumi bit her lower lip, suddenly feeling tears pick at her eyes, and thanked the night for being so dark around them.

"I'm home," she whispered as she hesitantly stepped into his embrace.

Eiji closed his arms easily around her smaller frame, and she was struck by the scent of his shampoo. He was using the same he always used. The familiar scent suddenly triggered memories of when they were together, of them smearing each other's faces with ice cream as they sat in the cafe two streets down from Seigaku; of them playing footsies under the library table, their homework forgotten on the table in front of them; of them sitting on Eiji's container as snow fell around them; of Eiji kissing her in the storage room beside Atobe's pool...

She squeezed her eyes shut and tears left wet trails on her cheeks. She didn't know why she was crying; she should have been happy that she had finally gotten Eiji back as a friend. But instead, it felt as though her heart was breaking. Her chest hurt like hell.

Eiji, seeming oblivious to whatever conflicting emotions were assaulting her, tightened his hold on her and rocked her a little from side to side.

"You grew taller, but you are still as light as ever," he stated teasingly.

He frowned, however, when he felt her shaking. "Harumi, you okay?"

He meant to push away from her to peer at her face, but she clung to his back strongly and pressed her tear-stricken face against his chest anxiously.

"I'm just cold," she lied in a whisper. "I missed you, Eiji. A lot. I'm glad... so glad..."

A strange expression crossed Eiji's eyes for a second. "Me too, I missed you."

"Is this going to be okay?" she heard herself ask in an uncertain voice. "I want to put the past behind us as well, but can we really be friends again like before? When you look at me, won't you be reminded of..."

_Won't you be reminded of what we used to share, and what we have lost? Why are you asking this, Harumi? Goddamnit. Stop... you will ruin everything._

Eiji did grow silent in response to her words. This time, it was Harumi who tried to push away to look at his face, and it was him who tightened the embrace again, locking her against his shoulder.

"Of course, don't be silly nya!" he stated cheerfully. "That's all in the past. I understand that you are with Fujiko now, and I don't mind it anymore. I have been a little bit resentful over the misunderstanding, but that has been cleared up!"

He laughed a little and finally put an end to the hug and started walking back towards the cave. Harumi dried her tears with the back of her hand and hastily ran after him till she was at his level. When they left the cover of the trees, moonlight fell on them both. Eiji smiled at Harumi knowingly. "Don't worry, Harumi, we can be friends again no problem! I don't have those fuzzy feelings for you anymore."

Harumi stopped advancing at that. She didn't know why, but she felt as though someone had punched her in the stomach.

_It's better this way, obviously. We can go back to being just friends now. That's what I wanted... that's exactly what I wanted._

Eiji stopped as well at the entrance of the cave and tilted his head in confusion when he saw her planted there. "Harumi? You coming?"

She studied his confused expression, searched his dark blue eyes, the lines of his mouth and the creases in his brow for... a sign... but a sign of what she didn't know. Finally, she shook her head at herself a little and smiled: "Let's catch up! I want to know everything about the past three years!"

She winked at him. "You haven't forgotten that you promised me answers about Kirihara, have you?"

Eiji crossed his arms across his chest. "I will start with the questions, you owe me that at least!"

Harumi huffed indulgently and stepped into the cave, kneeling down against one of the walls and throwing pebbles away as she mumbled about how dirty their temporary sleeping place was.

When she was satisfied with the lack of pebbles against the cave wall, she sat down with her back to the humid wall and sighed. She opened one eye and caught Eiji staring at the ripped tissue of her tshirt with a somewhat forlorn expression.

"Go ahead," she said. "Ask me anything."

Eiji scooted down in front of her, sitting cross legged with an elbow on his thigh and his face resting on his fist. He seemed pensive for awhile.

"I read your books," he finally said. "I'm not into reading usually, but I had to since you wrote them."

A light came into her eyes. "And?"

"They suck," he mocked with a grin.

She scowled and hit his shoulder. "Hey!"

Eiji lifted both hands playfully. "I'm just kidding. They are great. I love how realistic the characters act even though they are in a fantasy setting."

She blushed a little at the compliment; he could see how happy she was to hear that.

"I'm doing a majors in creative writing and Japanese literature at Tokyo U starting this fall," she announced happily. Then she leaned forward suggestively. "It's my turn now! Are you going to Tokyo U in the fall?"

Eiji twisted his bandaged hand and looked away uncomfortably.

"Ah!" Harumi yelled as she pointed an accusing finger his way. "Before you answer, let me just state that this has turned into a you-must-tell-the-truth game!"

"I didn't agree to that!" he retorted petulantly.

"Too bad! It's too late! Now answer me with the truth, and only the truth."

"Fine! The answer is I don't know."

She blinked. "You don't know? But the school has issued all the answers to the applications already!"

Eiji sighed and ruffled his hair with his good hand. "I'm accepted," he mumbled. "But I don't know if I'm going yet."

Harumi's congratulatory smile morphed into a frown. "What's there to hesitate about? This is Tokyo U we are talking about. Tokyo U!"

A defiant glint had come into Eiji's dark blue eyes. "Precisely because it's Tokyo U! Do you know how expensive the tuition is?"

Harumi was shocked. So this was what was going on? Eiji had money issues? She knew he lived by himself, but she thought at least his parents would provide for his tuition. Eiji seemed to guess her thoughts.

"My parents are going through a lot right now. They spent quite a bit for the funeral, and for my grandma's hospital bills. I don't want to burden them any further."

Before she could find anything comforting to say, Eiji pursued: "The good thing is, my tuition can be waived with a tennis scholarship. There is a game next month that will decide everything."

"Is that why you've been practicing like crazy lately?" she murmured softly.

The redhead nodded.

"Why with Kirihara though?"

Eiji looked up sharply. "Hey, that's a lot of questions! It's my turn!"

"Why Kirihara?" Harumi pressed.

They stared at each other, and to Eiji's surprise, she was the one who backed off first. She looked away as her cheeks flushed a little, and then she whispered: "Fine, it's your turn."

Eiji leaned back, putting some distance between them, feeling fidgety.

"I've gone to the preliminary games of Tokyo U, and they told me my style of tennis is not appropriate for the championship in August. They called it... what was it again? Oh yes, gimmicky."

Harumi felt her eyes popping out of her head. "Are you freaking kidding me? They told you you can't play with acrobatics? But that's who you are, Eiji!"

Eiji shrugged. "They told me to play like everyone else. That a tennis court was not a gymnasium. I don't like it either, Harumi. But I have to, for the scholarship."

Harumi put two and two together. "So you are training to be "normal" with Kirihara. Because you know that no one from Seigaku would allow you to stop your acrobatics!"

Eiji had a side smile. "When did you become so smart?"

"When did you become so stupid?" she exclaimed as she started pacing. "No, Eiji, _no_! What's the point..."

"I know what you are going to say," he interrupted her calmly. "Not doing my acrobatics is... scary to me. But I tell myself it's only this time, for the scholarship. It's not a big deal."

Harumi knelt in front of him with narrowed eyes. "Are you sure they are not doing this to screw you over? I've never heard of such ridiculous rules. I mean you played with acrobatics at the Nationals, dammit! And now a petty school competition is forbidding you?"

Eiji was confused. "You think they are doing this to me on purpose?"

Harumi thought about it again and sighed. "It's true that I don't see why they would do that. It's just all so strange to me."

Her eyes fell on his sprained wrist. "I don't want you to play with Kirihara anymore, though. I know how he plays... he keeps hurting his opponents."

Eiji gave her his famous cat-grin. "Thanks for worrying about me, Harumi, but Kirihara is really not a bad fellow at heart. He's not full of anger anymore like he was at the Nationals. If he were really trying to hurt me, I wouldn't play with him anymore. You have to trust me on this."

She looked into his eyes and he grinned warmly at her. She found herself nodding. She did trust in his better judgement. Even though he was playful and innocent, sometimes he was the most level-headed out of the two of them, even more so now that he seemed to have matured more than any of her other friends.

She leaned back. "Can I at least watch when you practice?"

Eiji closed an eye. "You might have to apologize to Kirihara first. Last time, you said some not so nice things."

Her cheeks flushed. "Same about him," she groaned. "He called me a female specimen."

Eiji laughed out loud, earning him a hit on the shoulder. Her eyes widened exponentially. "Oh my God, I can't believe it...you found it funny when he said that, didn't you?"

Eiji clamped a hand to his mouth, but his eyes betrayed his hilarity. Harumi's eyes narrowed till they were only a thin line. The redhead took that as his cue to scurry to his feet. It was a good move because she pounced after him and started chasing him in the cave.

"Come back here, you!"

"Catch me if you can, nya!"

"Don't nya me!"

"Nya!" He stuck out his tongue.

"Aren't you too old to say that?"

"Nya!"

She managed to grab a handful of his shirt, and then tried to jump on him by passing her arms around his neck. However, her attempt failed miserably.

_Holy shit, how tall has he gotten?_

Eiji eluded her easily and went to stand in front of the opening of the cave. The moonlit night behind him made his hair glow redder than usual. Her eyes glided down to his face and his muscled chest, and she jerked her gaze away from him in a rush.

"I'm tired now," she said, feeling troubled.

"I win!" Eiji declared triumphantly.

"Yes, you win," she conceded as she sat down with her back to the cave wall, feeling the humidity quickly seep through her thin shirt to reach her skin, making her shiver.

Eiji sat down against the opposite wall and looked around the cave, seeming to realize for the first time where they were.

"I've always wanted to sleep in a cave! This is exciting!" His voice echoed against the walls a little.

She arched an eyebrow. "Well this has never been on my bucket list."

She yawned, and rested more comfortably against the wall. "Well good night, Eiji."

"Good night, Harumi."

And then: "I'm glad we got to talk."

Her eyes slid open a bit. "Me too."

Eiji watched her eyes flutter close again. For someone who has been showing so much distaste about their sleeping place, she had fallen asleep awfully fast.

Slowly, the euphoria he had been displaying all night slowly faded from his features. He doubted he was going to sleep with all those thoughts running through his head. He couldn't believe what Oishi had done; it simply didn't fit with what he knew of his friend. He wanted to reserve judgement till he had a good talk with Oishi.

His eyes glided to Harumi's huddled form, and his fingers caressed the bandage around his wrist made from her ripped shirt. He could still feel her fingers tightly locked around his wrist as they fell from the cliff. It was hard being around her. Really hard. But he preferred this state to the awkward silence they used to share up till now. But really, what was he thinking back there? He shouldn't have held her like that. It just made all those memories come back with a vengeance. He couldn't get over how perfectly she still fitted in his arms, like she had never left at all.

"No more of this, Eiji. No more," he whispered to himself.

* * *

><p>Harumi sipped on her ice tea slowly, sitting in front of Fuji at the coffee shop.<p>

"This is for you," he said as he laid down two colorful train tickets on the table between them.

The straw glided out of Harumi's mouth and the brown liquid in it slowly receded back into the depths of the cup. She raised a questioning glance to his face, and he smiled his trademark smile.

"We are going to the airport, and then to whatever place in the world you feel like going."

_This scene is familiar_.

"Except not really," she stated impishly. "We are just going to the mountains, aren't we?"

Fuji's smile became a desolate frown at seeing his joke spoiled. He crossed his arms. "You are too bright, Harumi-chan."

Harumi stuck out her tongue, pleased. She placed a strand of hair behind her ear, and caught something from the corner of her eye. She spun her head in that direction slightly. The other tables and chairs between them and the front door had faded. Instead, there was Eiji standing there looking at them both, at the tickets on the table.

Harumi stood up so fast that she knocked her chair to the ground with a squeak.

"Eiji..."

"I'm letting you go, Harumi," Eiji said and then walked away.

Harumi dashed after him, but something pulled her back. Her eyes fell down on the hand gripping her forearm.

_Fuji._

She knew it was him, but she couldn't turn around to face him. She screamed out Eiji's name, but nothing came out. Instead, she watched as his back got smaller and smaller, and all the while Fuji's grip was hard as steel on her arm.

Her eyes snapped open and the sight of the brown cave roof filled her sight. For a second, she just lay there with her mind working at top speed trying to reconcile dream with reality. Pale rays of sunlight created luminous patterns on the walls surrounding her, and birds were chirping from the trees outside.

_That's right... we fell... the cave... Eiji..._

She turned on her left side and then sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes and leaving streaks of dirt on her cheeks.

A moan came from behind her, and she turned around vividly. Eiji was lying on the ground in fetal position with his left wrist clenched to his chest. He was still asleep, but a pale sheet of transpiration covered his creased forehead. He moaned again, clearly in pain.

Harumi crouched down beside him worriedly and gasped when she saw how swollen his wrist had become.

She placed a hand on his feverish shoulder and shook him gently. "Eiji! Wake up! Eiji!"

Slowly, Eiji's eyes creaked open. Harumi's face floated in front of his eyes.

"What's up...?" he mumbled.

A burst of pain from his wrist made him grimace. "It hurts," he stated plaintively and sat up to examine his wrist.

Harumi nodded worriedly. "Your wrist is all swollen now. We better get down the mountain and find a nearby hospital."

They both walked out of the cave and started their descent down the slope. With the light of day, they soon found a hikable trail winding downwards. Unlike the previous night, Eiji was silent as he marched behind Harumi with his wrist clenched to his chest. Harumi threw him a worried glance now and then, but Eiji always sent a reassuring smile her way and continue on his way.

Soon, the vegetation became thinner and thinner and the trail wider and more stable. They even encountered several hikers going the opposite way. Finally, they came out of the mountains and into the parking lot.

Harumi let out a cry of joy as she spotted their three cars still stationed there.

"Wait here," she told Eiji and she ran to the information desk to ask where the nearest hospital was. Once she got the information she needed, she ran back into the parking lot, looking for Eiji.

She found him leaning against the side of the red Dodge Viper and her feet shuffled to a stop. The way he looked then reminded her of the way he looked that day at the airport. She remembered how intimidated she had felt back then.

_But Eiji and I, we are good now!_

Feeling lighter, she ran to him.

"Eiji, I know where to go! Give me the keys to the car!"

Eiji still had enough energy left to look reluctant. However, Harumi's purple eyes were severe and she had one hand on her hip while the other was extended towards him palm up, waiting for the keys. With a sigh, Eiji relented and let them drop on her hand.

She opened the door and sat down on the driver's seat. Eiji went to sit on the passenger side. However, instead of turning on the engine, Harumi sat there staring at the dashboard and the wheel with wide eyes. Finally, when Eiji was about to say something, she rubbed both palms on her jeans nervously and ignited the motor.

The sudden vrooomm that filled the space inside the car made her jump a little. Eiji put a hand on her arm.

"Uhh... Harumi, are you sure you know how to drive?"

Two indignant purple eyes fixed on him. "Of course! Just watch!"

Seconds later the Dodge lunged forward, out of the parking lot and into the grass while knocking over a garbage can. Harumi screamed and stepped on the brake with all her might. The car jerked to a sudden stop and both passengers lurched forward a little.

Eiji's face was even paler than before. "H-Harumi! I think I just died a little!"

Harumi let out a nervous laugh. "T-the engine is more powerful than I thought."

"I've never been so scared during a car ride before," Eiji breathed out with a hand to his chest. "Let me drive instead."

Harumi clenched the wheel hard. "I can do this! I just... I need some time to get used to it."

"When will you get used to it? I hope it won't be ten overturned garbage cans, five uprooted trees and two run-over old ladies later!"

She shot him an annoyed glance. "Ha-ha. Since when are you so cynical?"

"Since I almost saw my entire life flash in front of my eyes in the space of two seconds," he exclaimed. "Just let me drive Harumi! I want to!"

"How can you drive with one hand, Eiji? Stop being ridiculous! I can do this... just... help me out, all right?"

Eiji was about to protest some more when he saw the look on her face. Her eyes were a little moist and she was biting her lower lip hard. He knew she didn't want to drive if she could help it, but she was doing this for him.

He sat back against his seat with a sigh.

"I guess there's no choice! Very well Harumi, don't you worry, you are going to become the best driver in Japan after our little lesson!"

He was harboring an enthusiastic grin, and she felt her nerves ease a little. She smiled back less tightly. "Let's do this!"

Thirty minutes later, the Doge Viper was parking in front of a small clinic near the mountains. The pedestrians and drivers they passed by all stared at the car in awe and envy.

It was still fairly early in the morning, so the clinic was deserted. There was a receptionist at the front desk whose face was hidden behind a cup of extra large coffee.

"Ohayo! Is there a doctor here?" Harumi asked as cheerfully as she could.

The blonde receptionist rang a bell without looking up, and said: "Take a seat."

Eiji and Harumi did as told. The redhead was back to being silent. Teaching Harumi how to drive and freaking out over their impending crash had kept his mind away from the pain, but now that they were waiting in an antiseptic smelling room, there was nothing else to focus on.

Harumi balanced her legs a little against the edge of the seat.

Ten minutes later, an old man stepped out from one of the rooms and motioned at them to go inside. He led them into a space containing a small bed, separated from other such cubicles by a white curtain.

He presented himself as Sasaki Sensei. As he examined Eiji's wrist, Harumi wandered around the tiny cubicle. There was a small mirror hung over the sink. She caught her own reflection and let out a shriek that made the doctor drop his roll of bandages.

"What's wrong?" he deadpanned.

Harumi turned around with both hands covering her face; only two purple eyes peaked between the fingers. "I look horrible!" came her muffled voice.

The doctor sweatdropped. "Mah, here I thought you two youngsters knew you looked like total savages."

Harumi uncovered her face and stared in bewilderment at her messy hair and the streaks of mud and something green on her face. Letting out a cry of frustration, she seized a nearby towel, drenched it and started wiping off the mud diligently. Eiji laughed loudly at her consternation, which earned him a dark glower.

When Sasaki Sensei was done applying the anti-inflammatory cream and the bandages to Eiji's left wrist, Harumi was finally satisfied with her appearance. She couldn't believe she had already been seen by so many people while looking like a female Tarzan!

When they stepped out of the clinic, the morning was well underway.

"You feel better?" Harumi asked Eiji.

The redhead nodded emphatically and twisted his wrist to show it off to her.

"Be careful with it!" she exclaimed. "You play tennis with both hands."

Eiji stopped his antics with a chastised expression. "Yes mom." Then he quickly dove to escape the slap in the head intended his way.

They returned to the Dodge and Harumi ran ahead of him to sit on the driver's seat. Now that she had remembered the basics of driving, she found it quite exhilarating. This time Eiji didn't protest; he glided graciously into the passenger seat and watched in glee as Harumi stepped on the gas pedal teasingly, making the engine roar.

Harumi was surprised at herself. She liked the speed of the Dogde, and she loved the feeling of potency she had when she sat behind the wheel with the whole car vibrating around her with the power of the motor.

"Here we go!" she exclaimed as she pushed down the hand break. The car lurched out of its slot in the parking lot with all tires squeaking on the cement.

Eiji pressed on a button near the radio and the roof of the convertible glided backwards. Harumi let out a cry of joy when she felt the wind blowing fiercely against her face, making her hair fly. Eiji hooted in exhilaration, pumping a fist in the air.

As she drove into the highway, Eiji half stood on his seat with one hand gripping the roof of the car and started screaming salutes to the cars passing them by.

"Hooooiii, how are you today?" "Our car is awesome right?" "The wind feels nice! Lower your windows too!"

Harumi laughed at his antics, and made the car zigzag among the others on the highway. The feeling reminded her of being on a dangerous ride at the amusement park, except that this time she had absolute control over where she wanted to go.

Eiji and Harumi's hilarity decreased by a couple notches when a police car started chasing after them all sirens blazing. Eiji immediately retreated back onto his seat and fumbled to buckle his seat belt.

"You have your license, right?" he asked nervously.

Harumi nodded. "But still, let's not get caught."

"What do you mean? We are already caught! The cops are right behind us, and getting closer," he exclaimed as he followed the progress of the police from his side mirror.

Harumi's jaw hardened and a dangerous glint passed through her purple eyes. A voice came over to them from the police car. "Pull over! Pull over now!"

"We are screwed!" Eiji cried as he pulled on his red hair.

Harumi licked her lips nervously, and then took in a big and determined gulp of air. Ignoring the orders to pull over, she pressed on the gas pedal instead and the Dodge lurched forward, going at 120km/hr. Eiji let out a yelp.

The Dogde cut in front of several other cars and made a forced change of lanes at the last second to take the nearest exit out of the highway. The other drivers all screamed obscenities as they tried not to collide their car against each other's or against the highway fence. The police car wanted to go after them, but the exit was now blocked by the line of disturbed cars.

Harumi saw all this from the rear view mirror and hurried to get the Dodge out of view of the highway by engaging it into smaller streets. She slowed down her speed gradually until they finally stopped near the port. The wind that blew over their faces now carried the scent of salt.

The young girl finally allowed herself to breathe, which she had forgotten to do during the whole chase.

_What did I just do? I just drove away from the police like a criminal! Oh my God..._

"Harumi..." Eiji started.

"I didn't want to get points taken off my license," she muttered quickly in guise of excuse.

"Harumi..."

"But if they catch us now, I will still have points taken off! I will probably even get a black mark on my file!"

"Hoi, Harumi..."

"No, what am I talking about? They are going to take away my license, period! And ask me to pay something exorbitant!" she screamed as she pulled on her hair.

Eiji put both hands on her shoulders and turned her towards him. "Harumi!" he called out loudly, finally capturing her whole attention. "That...was... amazing!"

Two purple eyes blinked back at him incomprehensibly. She was expecting him to scold her, to ask her what she was thinking. But...

Eiji shook her excitedly, a broad grin on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. "I didn't know you could drive like that when you only re-learned how to do it this morning!" He shook his head like he had trouble believing she was real. "That was the most exciting car ride I've ever had! It felt like we were in an action movie during one of those car chase scenes! Woah, sugoi!"

Harumi wanted to laugh but restrained herself. "Now is not the time to be saying that!" she chided. "What if the police saw the license plate of the car? They are going to trace it back to me!"

"Nani, nani," Eiji waved it off nonchalantly with one finger. "You went so fast they probably only saw a blur of red."

"But..."

"No more buts! What just happened was epic! It will forever remain in Kikumaru Eiji's memories as one of the best moments of his youth. Now..." he unbuckled her seat belt. "Get off. I'm starved, and I smell seafood around here!"

Harumi gave up on trying to argue with him and let him pull her away from the car and in the direction of a little restaurant by the port. The smell of grilled salmon drifted to her nose, and she heard her stomach grumble for food.

_We haven't eaten anything since last night. Might as well..._

When she caught up with Eiji, the redhead was already devouring the menu stapled to the walls. A kind-looking obasan greeted them at the door.

"Table for two?" she asked.

"Yes please," Harumi replied, because Eiji was too busy drooling.

They sat at a table on the porch for the weather was nice, and the obasan brought them two glasses of orange juice. They both gulped down the fresh cool juice in two seconds flat and ordered another glass right away.

"I feel more alive already," Harumi sighed.

"Mada, mada," Eiji exclaimed, patting his stomach. "Not until I get some food. I'm starving so much I could eat a bear."

She giggled. "I know how you feel."

She sat back on her chair, her hand unconsciously fiddling with the torn part of her tshirt.

_Too bad, I liked this shirt. But Eiji's wrist was more important..._

She looked up at him sitting across from her; he was polishing his chopsticks with one hand with a concentrated frown, seemingly ready to tackle his grilled salmon and grilled chicken when they would arrive. She had missed them hanging out together like this. It felt so natural, as though the animosity of the last couple of weeks - heck, of the last couple years - had been nothing but a bad dream. As soon as everything was forgiven between them, they had fallen back into this natural rhythm of friendship.

"I really missed you," she blurted out before she could think.

Eiji stopped polishing his chopsticks. She didn't know why, but the look he gave her then made her jiggle nervously.

"Yeah, I missed you too, you dork."

She looked up from her fiddling fingers and saw him grinning delightfully at her, as though what she just said had made his day. She slowly relaxed again.

Soon Eiji's grilled chicken and grilled salmon arrived, as well as Harumi's seafood ramen. They stopped talking and dug in voraciously, finishing up everything in record time. After drinking the last drop of ramen soup, Harumi sank back into her chair, feeling like a balloon.

"Soon I'll float up into the sky..." she mumbled.

"Like Harry's aunt in Harry Potter 3?" he asked with a straight face.

She almost spat out her drink. She didn't know what was funnier, the fact that he knew exactly how she was feeling, or the fact that he had connected that to Harry Potter.

"What?" he asked petulantly. "It was so funny how she just flew up in the air!"

Harumi wiped away a tear. "I know... that was priceless. My favorite Harry Potter movie is probably the last two. They were so action packed, and the special effects were awesome. It was great to see the characters mature too."

Eiji nodded frantically. "I loved that scene where the Forbidden Room caught fire and they had to escape on their brooms!"

They spent a moment talking more about the movie, and Harumi told him how she got to take a picture beside a giant poster of Voldemort at the movie premiere in France.

"Hold on, it's on my phone. I'll show you."

She took out her cellphone from her pocket and saw that it was turned off.

"Oh yeah, I turned it off at the beginning of the hike because I knew we'd have no connection."

Eiji took out his cellphone as well. "I did the same thing, nya. Now gotta turn it back off. A turned off cellphone is like a dead heart."

Harumi shook her head at him but deep down she agreed.

The moment her phone turned on, she was assaulted by beeps, and rings and vibrations. She yelped and dropped her phone on the table, where it continued vibrating and twirling on itself. Eiji's phone did the same thing, and Eiji threw it on the table as well.

Harumi ignored Eiji's scream of "our phones are possessed!", and quickly picked up hers again. What she saw was like a slap in the face. There were 58 messages - FIFTY EIGHT - and 40 missed calls.

She had completely forgotten about their friends who must be worrying about whether they were dead or alive.

"We didn't die from falling down that cliff, but I have a feeling we will soon be," Eiji said in a small voice, staring at his own missed calls list.

Harumi skimmed through her list of messages rapidly and saw that most of them started with different variations of "where the hell are you?".

She thought about Fuji and felt a pulse of guilt; he must be worried sick, and here she was, enjoying seafood ramen and talking about Harry Potter!

"If they have connection, they must be back to the parking lot, so they know we are alive, since the Dodge is missing," Eiji reasoned calmly.

"Ahhh!" Harumi screamed. "But that only makes it worse! It means we were all right all this time but didn't deign give them a call to let them know what exactly happened!"

Eiji blinked slowly as that reality sank in. "That's it, we are dead meat for sure."

"We better go back now,' she announced darkly.

Eiji rummaged in his pockets. "By any chance - he started slowly, hopefully - did you have your wallet on you when you fell down the cliff?"

"No? Why?"

Then she eyed the empty plates in front of her and paled. "Oh shit."

"That's right," Eiji deadpanned.

Five minutes later found them running breathlessly to the Dodge as an angry obasan chased after them brandishing a kitchen knife.

"You scoundrels! You thieves!' she was screaming at the top of her lungs. "Come back here and pay what you owe me! Stop running!"

"How can an old lady run so fast?" Eiji managed to squeeze out between two pants.

"I don't know... she's scary!"

"Like those ghosts from horror movies that always end up catching up to you!"

"Stop..." she whined.

"Curse you!" the angry obasan screamed. "I will find you wherever you are! Ungrateful brats!"

Harumi and Eiji finally reached the car. She unlocked the doors from afar and then rushed into the driver's seat. She ignited the engine and started backing up the vehicle. She removed the roof of the convertible and Eiji jumped over the door and directly into his seat while the car was already in motion.

"Nice teamwork!" he exclaimed as Harumi drove away in a cloud of dust.

"We will pay you back next time, obasan!" she screamed back at the figure of the old lady still brandishing her kitchen knife.

"We broke the law twice today. What is going on here?" she complained.

Eiji lifted himself off his seat on one hand. "I haven't had this much fun in forever! Neh, neh, Harumi! I just remembered there is an amusement park near here! Let's go there instead! Let's call the others and tell them we are fine, and they can join us there!"

Harumi almost stepped on the brake. "What are you talking about? No, we need to go back immediately and appease the storm."

Eiji sat back on his seat silently and stared out the window. Harumi threw a glance his way.

"You don't... want to go back?"

"I don't want to deal with Oishi," came Eiji's voice, almost blown away by the wind.

Harumi reported her attention to the road. She had forgotten about Oishi. Damn.

Twenty minutes later they were engaging into the parking lot down the Rokko Mountains. They saw their friends right away, assembled near the other two cars. When they saw the Dodge coming into the parking lot, they started running towards it.

"Here comes the angry mob," Harumi whispered under her breath before stepping out of the car to face them.

"Hey, it's gonna be all right," Eiji tried reassuring her.

Before she could answer, Fuji was in front of her, a look of worry and anger in his stormy blue eyes.

_Oh boy..._

* * *

><p>Voila, new chapter! hehe the Eiji fans must be happy :p I had lots of fun writing this chapter. It was a nice little break from the rest of the stuff happening :) hope you enjoyed. Reviews plzzzz :) xoxo<p> 


	10. Reminiscing

**Reminiscing**

Harumi could not remember the last time she had seen Fuji angry. He had always been the calm one, the gentle one, the smiling one. However, now, as he stood in front of her, his blue eyes were blazing like lasers.

"Eiji sprained his wrist. I drove him to the hospital after we came down the mountain," she heard herself say. "But I forgot to turn my phone back on. I'm sorry."

She met his eyes hesitantly, but he was still staring at her in the same way. She felt like a kid being chastised after getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar, even though Fuji hadn't yet uttered a word. She shuffled to him and put a hand on his arm. "Are you really mad? I know how worried you must have been…"

"Do you really?" he finally said. "It doesn't seem so." His eyes glided to Eiji's face and then back. "It seems to me you have lost track of time. Was it that fun?"

Harumi's eyes fell on her shoes. "Eiji and I had a talk. You know how we had issues before, but now the good news is that… we have finally sorted them out!" Her smile weaned when she saw that Fuji did not seem to think like it was such great news.

Eiji chose that moment to walk up and put a hand on Fuji's shoulder. "Sorry, Fuji. I didn't mean to hold her back for so long."

Fuji's eyes widened at Eiji's words and behaviour. He could not remember the last time the redhead had talked to him first. The tensai eyed the hand on his shoulder, and then studied Eiji's face, only to find the latter smiling back at him sincerely.

"I see," Fuji finally said, and reported his attention back onto Harumi. "Let's go home now. Everyone is tired from the night search."

He grabbed her hand and led her away towards their car. Harumi looked back over her shoulder and found Eiji standing there, watching them leave with his hands in the pockets of his shorts. She saw the rest of their friends encircling him and felt more than heard the curious questions shooting at him from all parts.

_Sorry Eiji, for making you deal with their questions alone. _

Her eyes caught sight of Oishi and Amaya coming behind Eiji, and she felt a pinch of concern.

_Eiji will be fine, won't he? He will have a talk with Oishi… maybe it's all a misunderstanding after all._

She ardently hoped so. If Oishi had really purposefully lied about what she had said in her email, then she wasn't sure she could forgive him. Why did she have to feel this way all this time when she could have reconciled with Eiji before coming back to Japan? She remembered her disappointment every time her questions about Eiji in her emails were answered with vague one-liners. Whether it was because of the lack of information concerning him, or whether it was because of the way they had parted, Eiji had always been at the back of her mind throughout the years she had spent in France. Sometimes, she had even dreamed that he had come to France to find her. Sometimes he was angry in her dreams, screaming at her and calling her a monster. Other times he was smiling at her as though all the bad things between them had never happened, and he would hug her warmly like he did before. No matter what the dream was about, she always found herself waking up in tears with her pillow clenched to her chest. She had never talked about these dreams to anyone. What was the point? They were just dreams, reflections of her guilt.

She could have moved on from all that if only she had had the peace of mind that not all was ruined with Eiji, that at least their friendship could have been preserved. But because of what Oishi did, she had been denied that peace of mind. She sighed, barely noticing that Fuji was opening the car door for her.

She threw him a quick glance and then climbed on the back seat. Fuji joined her a few seconds later, clacking the door closed behind him. They just sat in the car in silence, leaving Harumi to twist her thumbs anxiously. She couldn't help but to find it ironic that when finally the awkward atmosphere between her and Eiji had been resolved, she had a new one going on with Fuji.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she turned to him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Scream at me if you want! Throw a tantrum if you must! I know you are angry, so why the silence?"

Fuji closed his eyes and remained quiet.

She shook him by the arm. "Don't do this to me! Don't keep your thoughts to yourself! I thought we were past this!"

Fuji sighed. "There is nothing to say. I'm just tired. Don't you know? I was searching for you all night."

"I feel awful about that, believe me. Why do you keep reminding me? Do you think I wanted to fall off that cliff with Eiji?" she demanded with exasperation.

Fuji shot her a glance, but kept silent.

She felt nervous all of a sudden. Why were they fighting again? It was their second fight already since the beginning of the trip. She needed to fix this.

Her eyes fell on a notepad and a pen on the dashboard of the car, and inspiration struck her. She leaned forward, stretching her hand until she grabbed them.

She put the notepad on her knees, thought for a moment with the pen tapping against her chin, and then finally started scribbling furiously. Fuji tried not to look over at what she was doing, but after a few seconds, he opened his eyes and tried to surreptitiously peek at her writings.

Harumi finished scrabbling and looked up at him sheepishly. Then, she ripped the page from the notebook and handed it to him. "Here, consider this as an apology raincheck."

Fuji took it and read the words hastily scribbled: _"How to use the apology raincheck: tell me your wish upon presentation of this coupon, and I shall grant it to the best of my abilities. Signed: H.Y."_

"It's an official one," she declared as she tried not to look at him. "It might be childish, but this is my sincere apology."

She risked a glance at his face and was relieved to see that his lips were starting to curve up in a small smile.

Feeling lighter, she lowered the window and let the morning wind blow inside.

"So I can use this whenever I want, eh?" Fuji asked, shaking the piece of paper in front of her.

She nodded.

Fuji carefully folded up the paper and put it in the front pocket of his shirt. "And it can be any wish? You can't take it back."

She smiled. "I always keep my promises with you."

Suddenly, sounds of voices reached them from the open window of the car. Harumi stuck her head outside to look across the parking lot towards their group of friends. Her eyes widened when she saw Eiji holding Oishi by the collar of his shirt. Amaya was begging at them to stop as she clang onto the redhead's arm. Oishi then said something that Harumi could not catch. In response to his words, Eiji whipped his head towards Mai in disbelief. Mai was crying as she grabbed onto his shirt. She was shaking her head violently and tried to speak, but Eiji pushed her away. Mai stumbled backwards with a cry, and would have fallen if not for Takasan's hands under her arms.

Harumi opened the door of the car and stepped out, followed by Fuji.

"What is happening?" the tensai inquired.

Without taking her eyes off the scene, she quickly mumbled: "Do you know why Eiji resented me? He thought I wanted nothing to do with him anymore after I left for France. Apparently, Oishi told him I wrote an email saying just that. But I wonder… why is Mai getting involved? Does she have something to do with this too?"

She frowned as she flashbacked to every single one of Mai's words and actions ever since she had come back. She remembered how Mai had made her promise not to talk to Eiji anymore… Had Mai been scared that she would learn of what Oishi had done by talking to the redhead? Her purple eyes hardened.

_I wouldn't be surprised if this was all her idea._

Tezuka was now intimating Eiji in a loud voice to let go of Oishi, as Momo forcefully tried to break the fight, but Eiji just tightened his grip and shook Oishi even harder with eyes full of betrayal. "How could you?" Harumi heard him scream. "You are supposed to be my best friend! You've been lying to me all this time!"

Amaya stepped between Eiji and Oishi with tears clinging to her cheeks. "Stop it!" she yelled. And then, to everyone's surprise, she twirled around and slapped Oishi hard across the face.

Oishi touched a hand to his burning cheek, shocked. Slowly, Eiji let go of his shirt and backed away two steps. No one spoke or made a sound for a couple of long seconds, and then Eiji twirled around and strolled away towards the Dodge.

Harumi's eyes traveled from his retreating figure to Amaya's crying face, torn as to whom to go to. However, upon seeing that the rest of their friends were crowding around Amaya, her feet propelled her in Eiji's direction.

Fuji's hand on her forearm stopped her.

"He probably wants to be alone," she heard him say. "It's a lot to take in."

Harumi slowly turned to face him and shook her head. "I just want to make sure he's okay. We were both ardently hoping that it was all a misunderstanding with Oishi, but now it doesn't seem that way. Besides, I want to ask him…"

"Don't go," Fuji cut her off.

Two surprised purple eyes fixed onto his face. "Fuji!" she exclaimed.

His hand tightened around her arm and he clenched his jaw. "Stay by my side, Harumi! Is it that hard?"

Harumi was shocked into speechlessness for a second. "Are you being jealous right now? This is not the time for such petty feelings. Why are you always acting this way when Eiji is concerned? He needs a friend by his side right now. Why are you stopping me instead of going with me?"

Fuji's eyes were stormy again. "Eiji doesn't want me near him. We have not been friends for years now. Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Eiji had a reason to be angry! Was your friendship with him so shallow that you gave up on it so easily? If he had drifted away, you should have gone after him. At least that's what I intend to do. I have finally mended my friendship with him after all this time. You know how important this is to me."

Fuji considered her a moment longer, and she could see the struggle on his face as he swallowed back whatever he had been intending to say. "Fine," he let out. "Go! I was never able to stop you from doing what you want."

Harumi stood there facing him, not making a motion to leave. Her heart was thumping hard. This was all wrong. Why couldn't he understand her? Why was he acting this way whenever Eiji was concerned? Did he really think she still had feelings for him? That was ridiculous. She had chosen Fuji three years ago. She had broken Eiji's heart and chosen _him_. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Behind her, the motor of the Dodge ignited, and through her tears she saw Eiji driving past them and out of the parking lot.

"Go?" she whispered. "It's too late for that."

She turned her back to Fuji and climbed back onto the Jeep.

Minutes later, their friends trickled back to the remaining cars in silence. No one was talking and the atmosphere was gloomy. Amaya silently sat down beside Harumi in the car and drew her knees to her chest to hide her face against them. Harumi patted her back comfortingly. "Amaya, we will talk once we are home," she whispered in her friend's ear. Amaya, however, did not reply.

Naoko silently climbed behind the wheel of the Jeep and ignited the engine.

The drive back home was the most depressing drive Harumi had ever experienced, as apart from the soft music drifting out of the radio, no one spoke a word.

* * *

><p>Harumi crossed her legs as she moved her popsicle from the left side of her mouth to the right. She leaned back on the grass and stared up at the cloudless blue skies.<p>

"Have you heard from Amaya?" Chiharu asked from beside her.

"Nope," Harumi answered after taking the popsicle out of her mouth. "We might live in the same house, but it's like she's a ghost these days. I barely see her at all. When I knock on her door, there's only silence."

Chiharu sighed and threw away the flowers she had been plucking out. "I'm worried about her. You don't think her relationship with Oishi is over?"

Harumi sighed. "I don't know. I hope not. She is so happy when she's with him. Besides, they've been going out steady for what? More than three years?"

"Yeah," Chiharu conceded. "They were the one drama-free couple in our group. They gave me hope that that kind of relationship was possible, you know? That it's not just in the movies."

Harumi huffed an amused smile. "Is your illusion shattered now?"

Chiharu's green eyes shuffled to her. "Not yet. Their problem doesn't concern their relationship per se, if you see what I mean. Oishi clearly regrets what he did. Besides, it was all Mai's idea in the first place, so Oishi's fault resides in allowing himself to be manipulated, and then keeping silent for all this time."

She was thoughtful for a second. "By the way, I can't believe Mai did all that. She… well, you know how during her buchou days, she was always so adamant about following the rules and conducting a moral life. What happened to that Mai, I wonder?"

Harumi shrugged. "No one is perfect, that's what it means. I think she couldn't see clear anymore after Eiji started liking me."

"She is such a strange one," Chiharu pondered. "She's had feelings for Eiji for a long, long time. Even from before you came along. But she always denied it and pretended it wasn't true. Technically, she could have confessed to Eiji ages ago, but somehow, I get the feeling that she was happy with him not knowing. Maybe she thought that as long as he did not like anyone else, then it was okay to think that he belonged to her."

Harumi licked at her melting popsicle. "That's just messed up. I can't forgive her for making me feel like such a bad person when in reality she was the one pulling the strings in the background. How do people like that even exist?"

Chiharu's face darkened at those words. "That's a naïve way of thinking, Harumi. The real world is much, much scarier than this. Mai is nothing. And did you forget Sayuri?"

Harumi shot her a piercing glance. She did not like to be reminded of Sayuri. She finished her popsicle and started chewing on the wooden stick. "In any case," she said as she stretched, "this trip was a nightmare. Naoko looked so depressed when we sent her off."

Chiharu shot her a sideways glance. "How are things with Fuji?"

Harumi shrugged. "After we came back, we had a long talk, and we are good now."

Chiharu smacked her lips with an arched eyebrow. "But the real question is, have you gotten to the root of the problem? Do you know why you are fighting so much these days?"

Harumi sighed and lied back down on the grass with her forearm resting on her forehead. "It's true that we never used to fight before. But then, if you think about it, we were never in an official relationship before I left. It was mostly me pining for him from afar and wondering if one day he'd feel the same about me. Now that we are in a relationship for real… well… fights are part of any relationship, aren't they?"

Chiharu lied down beside her. "There are healthy fights, and unhealthy ones. In which category do yours fall under?"

Harumi covered her eyes. "I don't know. I don't want to think about it. This trip seems to have brought out the worst in everyone."

Chiharu agreed with a silent nod, but then she nudged Harumi in the ribs. "But it wasn't all bad, was it? At least you made up with Eiji, and all these rotten events were brought to the light of day. In order to cure an infection, you gotta squeeze out the pus first."

Harumi grimaced at her metaphor, but then a smile stretched her lips. "You are right though. I'm SO glad Eiji doesn't hate me, and I can talk to him whenever again! I feel so much better just being reminded of that."

Chiharu laughed indulgently. "You are so easy to please!"

Harumi rolled happily on the grass, and then propped up on one elbow to stare at Chiharu's face. "And you? Are you happy?"

Chiharu shrugged. "Sure. What's there to be unhappy about?"

"Hmmmm," Harumi let out unconvincingly. "When will you tell me exactly what happened with Atobe? Do you know how many crazy rumors Naoki has made up concerning your break-up?"

Chiharu smiled and slipped a strand of hair behind her ear. "Oh really?"

"So just tell me! Squeeze out the pus! Then you can heal."

Chiharu threw a disbelieving look at Harumi who was looking proud of herself for using Chiharu's metaphor against her.

"You are too much, Haru. How many times do I have to tell you that it was a normal break-up?"

Harumi leaned in with narrowed eyes. "As many times as it takes for you to get tired of the lie and tell me the truth instead."

Chiharu suddenly pointed forward. "Ah! It's Fuji!"

Harumi sighed at her obvious tactic to switch the topic of conversation, but when she followed her finger, she saw that indeed there was Fuji approaching. As he walked down the trail of the park with his camera around his neck, he was talking to a short girl with short pale blonde hair and ruby eyes.

Harumi stood up and put both hands around her mouth, and yelled: "Hey, Syusuke!"

Everyone in the park turned to look at her. Chiharu sweatdropped beside her.

Fuji turned his head in her direction and saw her waving at him with a smile. He said something to the other girl, and they both started walking in her direction.

"Taking more pictures?" Harumi asked when they arrived at her level.

Fuji smiled and lifted his camera, taking a picture of Harumi and Chiharu, who was still sprawled down on the grass.

The new girl poked her head out from behind Fuji and looked at Harumi curiously with her big oval ruby eyes.

Fuji smiled and stepped aside. "Harumi, this is Yuriko, the president of our photography club in high school. We are starting a new club at Tokyo U with Jiro, the third member."

Harumi considered her curiously. "Oh yes, Syusuke has mentioned you before!"

Yuriko blinked and looked over at Fuji. "Only good things, I hope?" Fuji simply smiled. "Of course."

Harumi looked from one to the other and said: "Well, nice to meet you. I am…"

"… Harumi Yamazaki, Syusuke's girlfriend. Yes, I have definitely heard about you too," Yuriko finished for her with a smile.

_Syusuke_'s_ girlfriend? She sure is daring, calling him by his first name! But then they've known each other since high school, she said. So that's what? Two years, maybe three?_

She promised herself to question Fuji about her later.

Yuriko also had a camera around her neck. She pressed on the replay button and showed Harumi some of the shots of the park and trees they had taken so far. Harumi was impressed; her pictures were clear, the angle seemed professional, and the subjects were all smiling couples and happy families.

She poked Fuji in the ribs. "You've got a thing or two to learn from her! She's really good!"

"That's why she was the president," he answered humbly. Upon looking at his watch, he turned off his own camera and signalled to Yuriko. "Let's get going. There is still work to be done."

"Eh?" Yuriko complained. "Can't we take a small break?" She turned to Harumi and seized her hand eagerly. "Now that I have finally met your mysterious girlfriend, the one who seized the elusive Fuji Syusuke's heart, I'd like to get to know her better! She might have a few tips for me!"

She winked at Harumi, who answered with a confused smile.

Fuji pushed Yuriko away by the shoulders. "You will get the chance to; she will be attending Tokyo U with us in the fall."

Yuriko tried to look over her shoulder at him. "Will she now? That's great!"

Harumi watched the scene, sweatdropping a little.

_What's up with her? Now that's an over-friendly person, if I ever saw one. _

"I will call you later, Harumi," Fuji threw back as he led Yuriko away.

"Bye-bye." Harumi waved at them until they disappeared behind a trail of trees.

Chiharu stood up and dusted off the bits of grass on her dress. "You might want to be careful of that girl," she said matter-of-factly behind her back.

Harumi turned around, frowning. "What do you mean?"

Chiharu considered her with a devilish smile. "Oh, nothing much. Just that in high school, it was pretty well known that she had a huge crush on Fuji. So you better be careful, or she might steal him like this!" She finished with a dramatic snap of her fingers.

Harumi laughed at her antics. "I'm sure a lot of girls had a crush on him in high school. Just like how they did in elementary school. Just like how they probably will in university..." she sighed at this realization.

Chiharu shook her finger at her. "But this one is obstinate. She sent Fuji love letters every day. She wasn't shy about it one bit."

Harumi frowned internally. Yuriko did seem a little bit on the extravagant side; she definitely was not a shy person. If she liked Fuji, why did she just ask Harumi to give her some "tips"? Yuriko couldn't have meant that she wanted tips on how to get Fuji?!

She shook her head in distaste. Nobody could be that blatantly shameless. "I trust Syusuke," she stated with a nod. "He's not the kind of person who would let anything happen. That I know for sure. Thanks for telling me about Yuriko though. It's always good to know about girls like her."

Chiharu waved it off good-naturedly. "Sure thing. If you are confident about your relationship, then all is good. By the way, do you know where my next photoshoot will be at?"

Harumi looked over questioningly.

"At the beach!" Chiharu revealed excitedly. "So? Do you want to come?"

"I can?" Harumi asked with shining eyes.

Chiharu held up seven fingers. "I can bring seven people along with me. The beach resort can't fit more than that. So think of who you want to bring along. A suggestion though: try to get Amaya and Oishi to come. It will be good for them. They just need to talk this through and continue on their fairytale relationship. I don't think Oishi did something unforgivable. What do you think?"

Green eyes appraised Harumi intensely. The honey-haired girl let her gaze wander towards the nearby kids playing in the park. "Maybe you are right," she finally conceded softly. "It wasn't unforgivable."

Then she looked down at her watch and suppressed a gasp. "Oh, it's almost time."

"Time for what?" Chiharu asked.

"Oh… nothing much. I will see you later, Chiharu! I will let Amaya know about the stay at the beach!"

Chiharu watched her run off with narrowed eyes. "Fishy behaviour detected."

Harumi ran outside the border of the park and sprinted down the streets leading to her old school Seigaku. She stopped by the convenience store to buy juice and snacks. Then, she hurried on her way until she arrived puffing and panting at the last court hosting street tennis.

Eiji and Kirihara were already exchanging balls. Harumi tip-toed to the side bench and let herself fall on it, wiping off the sweat from her brow. Kirihara sneered upon seeing her, but did not make any comment. After all, this was already his third time seeing her here. Even though he was still annoyed at her presence, he could not deny that the snacks and the drinks were a plus.

Harumi watched them play with a cold can of soda resting against the side of her neck. Eiji, like she had expected, was trying to play tennis the conventional way. She could see that it was hard, even unnatural for him to do so, but he was doing his best.

As the sun slowly moved along the sky and evening edged closer, Kirihara finally called for a break. The two boys were both sweating and panting. They approached the bench and sat down on either side of Harumi with a puff, letting towels fall on their heads. Harumi took out two cans of juice and handed them out.

She watched as the boys gulped it down in one shot. Kirihara aimed the empty can at a distant garbage can and threw. He watched, pleased with himself, as the can knocked against the inside of the garbage can and went in with a "ding". His hand plunged inside the bag for another drink, but Harumi tapped him on the wrist.

"Only one for you!"

Kirihara blew away a strand of black hair from his eyes and stared at her head on. "Why? There's still so many left!"

Harumi huffed and crossed her arms. "Do I need to give you a reason? It's not like you bought them."

"You crazy woman! Why so petty? I'm dying of thirst here!"

Harumi pointed at the fountain outside the court. "Free water for you over there!"

Kirihara tsked in annoyance, then leaned over Harumi to address Eiji: "I'm _really_ not going to come anymore if this one keeps on intruding."

"Intruding my ass," Harumi whispered under her breath. "You were happy enough when you saw me bringing drinks!"

Eiji just laughed. "Come on, Harumi. Be nice!"

"This is me being nice," she stated seriously.

Kirihara's eyes glided to the bag on her lap. A second later, his hand shot out like a snake and grabbed it out of her reach. Then, he quickly picked up his bag and racket and sprinted away. Harumi jumped on her feet and shook her fist at his retreating back as she yelled at him to come back.

Kirihara simply stuck out his pointy tongue at her and screamed: "Serves you right for being petty, female specimen-san!"

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Harumi yelled back, feeling a vein pop on her forehead.

She twirled wildly towards Eiji, and the redhead edged back a little, trying to shield away from her rage. He listened compassionately as she went on a rant about how much of a jerk Kirihara was, how she was going to kill him, and how Eiji should cut all ties with him.

Finally, he stuffed a bread in her mouth in shut her up.

Harumi let out a muffled sound and stared at him in annoyance. Eiji leaned back against the bench and twirled his racket around his wrist, smiling as he stared up at the setting sun.

Harumi sat back beside him and slowly took the bread out of her mouth. After a moment of peaceful silence where she finished chewing on the mouthful in her mouth, she turned to look at Eiji's profile. His chest was still heaving slightly from his recent activity, and a bead of sweat was rolling down his temple from his wet red hair.

She suddenly flashbacked to when they were together three years ago. It was winter when they knew each other, and he liked to bring her to the green container from where they could look at the city. He'd wipe the snow off the top of the container, and then help her to climb up next to him. Eiji liked to look up at the sky back then as well. He'd sit on the container with his arms outstretched behind him, and he'd smile as snowflakes drifted down slowly from the grey skies, gradually sprinkling his scarf and beanie in silver.

She remembered how seeing him like that made her feel like she was one of the many snowflakes surrounding them. It was like falling slowly, drifting, until she settled on his scarf, on his face, on his gloved hands. And finally, the warmth emanating from him would make her start melting slowly.

Eiji shifted his gaze from the snowy skies to her. "Harumi?"

Feeling her heart do a little leap, she smiled widely. "Yeah?"

Eiji continued looking at her, seeming to wait for her to say something else. The smile that hovered on his lips slowly faded as his dark blue eyes took in her expression. "Harumi?" he repeated more softly.

The honey-haired girl blinked, and then suddenly there was no more snow, no more container. Just Eiji sitting on the bench next to her in his tank top and his shorts, with a towel around his neck, staring at her.

_What the hell just happened? Oh God... why... why did I have to remember that all of a sudden?_

"WHY?" she screamed out loud, ready to pull at her hair and barely managing to restrain herself from doing so.

The redhead almost jumped out of his seat and eyed her with big eyes. "Why what?"

_Oh great! I'm going crazy. Stuff is just spewing out my mouth from my brain!_

She quickly cleared her throat. "Not why. I mean "what". Yes, as in "what are you going to do about Oishi?""

Not letting him the chance to reply, she added accusingly: "Don't think I don't know that you haven't talked to him since we came back from the mountains! Do you think everything will be resolved by you remaining silent? Huh? Oishi came to see Amaya many times too! He said you are shunning him and not taking his calls, and he can't bear if Amaya is doing the same."

Eiji considered her and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't want to talk to him right now."

_Oh thank God, crisis averted._

She took a deep breath. "But… you are going to forgive him eventually, right? I don't want you to lose another friend…"

"What are you talking about? I've got you back, didn't I?" He ruffled her hair wildly, ignoring her cries of protest.

Harumi pushed his hand away and combed her hair back with a grunt. "That's it! Now that you've grown taller, you think you can pick on me?"

Eiji's face fell. "But I'm not picking on you!"

"Sure you are not!" Harumi replied sarcastically and then took another bite of her bread.

Eiji shook his head at her and finished his drink. Then, he threw the can in the garbage in the same way that Kirihara had done.

"When is the tournament again?" Harumi asked.

"End of August. Less than a month." Eiji turned around and gulped audibly.

Harumi clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't be nervous. You've already played singles at the Nationals. This will be a piece of cake. Think of not being able to use your acrobatics as a challenge."

She pointed a finger to her chin in thought. "Actually, now I think about it, when you use your acrobatics, you are increasing your range. You are able to reach farther without covering as much distance. So… if you stop yourself from using acrobatics, you will need to run there faster on your two legs. This is the same thing as working on your speed!"

Eiji was thoughtful for a second, and then his eyes brightened up. "You are right! I can just think of this as a special training."

"Exactly! You will be even better afterwards when you revert back to your own style of tennis," she finished and nodded at the wisdom of her own words.

Eiji suddenly clasped her by the shoulders and stared at her head-on. Harumi gulped. "W-what?"

The redhead blinked at her as though he was looking at an oddity in a museum. "Harumi, I didn't know you were this savvy about tennis."

He leaned away to avoid her fist.

"Do I have to remind you that I was part of the tennis club three years ago?" she let out.

Eiji flashed him his cat-like grin. "How could I forget? I still remember the first time I saw you. We were running laps around the tennis courts, and you were running with Amaya. You looked like you were going to freeze to death in your shorts."

Harumi thought back to that day and could almost feel the cold wind of January on her bare skin again. She shivered. "I remember when I saw you for the first time too," she stated, thinking back to that day. "I remember asking to myself who was that guy jumping over other people's backs. That day, the person who came last in the laps was supposed to drink Inui's concoction. Of course, at the time I had no idea how deadly it could be."

She laughed.

"Ho! So that's the first time you saw me? And I thought you only had eyes for Fujiko that day."

She turned towards him and saw him wink.

"Well, it's true that I got to talk to Fuji for the first time that day. But now that I think about it, I think I saw you first. Yeah... that's right... I was just running and trying not to freeze to death, and then I noticed you doing your crazy acrobatics."

_He really hasn't changed much since that day._

Suddenly, a whizzing sound pierced her ears, and she lifted her gaze in time to see a tennis ball rushing straight towards her face. Before she had time to lift her hands to protect herself, Eiji's arm shot up in a blur as he caught the ball in his fist.

"Harumi, are you ok?" he inquired.

She released the breath she had been holding. "Yeah. Thanks for that."

She then saw two girls peering over the wall of the court, with their hands to their mouth.

Harumi smiled and waved at them. "I'm fine. No harm done!"

Eiji stood up and threw the ball back at them. "Be more careful, nya!" The two girls bowed and disappeared behind the wall.

"My eye-hand coordination is still as great as ever," he bragged with one eye closed.

"Hai, hai," Harumi conceded with an obliging smile.

"How are your tennis skills?" Eiji inquired.

Harumi shrugged. "I don't get a lot of opportunities to practice. All the girls are busy, and the guys usually just play against each other whenever I go to the courts with Syusuke."

"Fujiko's never played a match against you?"

Harumi laughed and shook her head. "He's way above my level! It would be game over in a second!"

Eiji considered her pensively. "Do you think it would also be game over in a second if you play against me?"

Harumi eyed him, not knowing where he was going. "Yeah, against you too" she admitted with a pout. "Are you trying to make me feel bad about my tennis skills, Kikumaru Eiji?"

Eiji blinked, and then shook his head. "I think you are underestimating your skills, Harumi." He twirled his racket around his wrist playfully, and then pointed it towards her chest. "Let's play a match. Give me all you've got. I won't go easy on you."

"Ehhh?" Harumi eyed him in disbelief.

Eiji went to pick up his second racket and threw it at her. Harumi caught it by the edge and gripped it in her right hand. She watched in disbelief as Eiji picked up a couple of balls and then went to the other side of the court.

"Ready?" he yelled.

"Oh God…" Harumi muttered under her breath as she went to position herself.

Eiji served the ball, and she missed it by a hair.

"Ace!" Eiji screamed delightfully from the other end of the court.

Harumi twisted her mouth moodily at his antics.

_He wasn't kidding! He really is going all out! Fine, I won't go down without a fight. Let him wait and see…_

Eiji served again, the ball a yellow blur, but this time Harumi managed to hit it back. The impact made her racket tremble and almost escape out of her grip.

Eiji sauntered to the middle of the court and returned her shot easily, aiming for the corner. Harumi ran there as fast as she could and hit it towards the opposite corner… except Eiji was at the net, grinning, and blocked her shot. Harumi rushed forward and lobbied it towards the back.

Eiji was there too, ready to receive the shot. He aimed the ball in a crazy diagonal towards the right, making the ball crush on the white line before bouncing out of the court.

Harumi wiped the sweat from her brow, panting, as she repositioned herself to wait for his serve. She slowly swayed from side to side, extending and flexing her fingers around her racket, as she felt the adrenaline flow within her.

_I will block his next one… I have to… _

Eiji served the ball and her feet propelled her forward. She swung her racket wide and hit the ball right back to him in a yellow blur. Eiji jumped back a bit and swung his racket down to send the ball back in a lobby. Harumi grinned and smashed it down to his forecourt. Her smiled died down, however, when Eiji seemed to teleport to where the ball was bouncing towards. He returned it with a backhand. Harumi rushed left and gave him a backhand of her own.

"A tough one, aren't you…?" she whispered to herself, but she couldn't help smiling.

This was the most exciting tennis match she had played in a while. Her chest was soaring as she contemplated the challenge in front of her. Eiji's shots were hard and made her run all over the place, but the feeling of victory that exploded in her chest whenever one of her shots went over Eiji's defence made everything worth it.

After a while, they lost count of the score and just hit the balls back and forth, grunting with the effort of every shot.

The sun slowly lowered further in the western sky as the hours passed by.

Harumi's legs now felt like cotton as she rushed forward to catch a drop shot. As she did, she tripped against her own foot and went crashing down into the net.

"Itaaa…" she whimpered as she slowly disentangled herself from the net, only to see Eiji doubling over in laughter a few meters away from her.

"Eiji… how can you laugh at someone's misery like this?"

"G-gomen!" He puffed again, but at least had the good sense to come to her and give her a hand to help her to her feet.

After she stood upright, she punched him weakly on the side. "I could have sworn I saw two of you at one point. Don't use your Nationals level techniques on me please."

"He-he," Eiji stuck his tongue out at her. "Let's call it a day for now."

"A day? I think I will call it a week. It will be a wonder if my muscles are not sore as hell for the next couple of days. But you know what?" she lifted her face at him and beamed, "I've never had this much fun."

They went back to the bench to sit down (or to collapse, as in Harumi's case), and Eiji dropped his towel over her head. She grabbed her water bottle and sipped at it gratefully from under the towel.

"It was really fun for real, nya," he let out as he stretched.

Harumi laughed. "Don't lie. To you, it probably felt like playing against an infant."

"That's precisely why it was fun."

Harumi fixed him sternly, letting the towel slide down her head. "You've turned really vicious, you know that?"

He flicked her on the forehead. "I'm jokinggg. You are actually a good adversary! I like your Arrow Shots. They always catch me by surprise."

She beamed. "Really?"

"Really!"

"Ok, let's do this again! I feel like I can really improve my skills playing against you," she proposed excitedly.

Eiji closed an eye. "Anytime!"

Harumi stared down at her watch. "Ahhhh, it's already this late! I promised Amaya's parents I'd be on time for dinner. Come on Eiji, let's get going!"

She sprang up from the bench, her fatigue momentarily forgotten due to the new priorities making their way into her brain. They collected their stuff and left the tennis courts to engage themselves along the well illuminated streets of the city. It was rush hour, and so there were a lot of passersby jamming the sidewalks, hurrying home from work or school.

Harumi stretched her arms surreptitiously. She could already feel the soreness starting to settle in her muscles. "Neh, Eiji, tell me what I need to work on in my tennis, all right?"

Receiving no response, she looked back and saw that she was alone in the crowd.

"Oh great…" she mumbled. "Eiji? Eiji, oy!"

She looked around but did not see him anywhere. Sighing, she took her cellphone out of her bag and flipped it open to call him. She stopped, however, when she saw two missed calls from Fuji.

She remembered that Fuji had said at the park that he was going to call her later.

"Crap!"

She was about to call him back when a hand seized her wrist and pulled her out of the crowd. She lifted her eyes and saw Eiji standing in front of her, panting a little. "The streets downtown get so crowded during rush hour!" he complained. "I thought I lost you!"

"Same here. I was just about to call you."

She stared at the way a strand of red hair fell in his eye as he panted. Eiji then let go of her hand and pointed to the convenience store outside which they were standing. "Let's go in for a second, I need to get something."

"Sure!"

He pushed open the door, making a little bell ring, and she followed him in. Eiji started searching the shelves, and Harumi walked past the rows of instant noodles as she opened her phone and dialed Fuji's number.

"Moshi moshi?" Fuji's voice replied three rings later.

"Hey, it's me," she said.

"Oh, Harumi! Where are you?"

"At a convenience store, in downtown. I see that you called. Do we have plans for tonight?"

There was a lot of noise in the background, so she could not hear his reply properly. "I'm sorry, what? Where are you?"

After a couple of seconds, Fuji seemed to have moved to a quieter area. "Gomen! Yes, so I was saying that I'm at a restaurant right now with my sister. She just came back to town. I don't know how long the dinner is going to last."

"Oh, no worries. Tell her I said hi!"

"I will."

"Enjoy your dinner then! I'll be having dinner with Amaya's parents tonight. Hopefully I will also get her to talk to me about the whole Oishi thing. We will see."

"All right, good luck with that."

"Thanks! Talk to you later then?"

"Yes, I will call you after dinner. I'm sorry for this. We shall do something tomorrow, however. So think about what you want to do."

Harumi smiled as she played with a strand of her hair. "I will! Bye!"

She put the cellphone back in her bag and turned back to see Eiji paying for his purchases at the cash. She made her way to him. "What did you get?"

Eiji seemed surprised to see her pop up so suddenly, and then showed her his supply of instant noodles and snacks. "Just getting dinner." He scratched his head. "I don't really feeling like cooking tonight."

Harumi considered the cups of instant noodles. "Why don't you come have dinner at Amaya's tonight? I'm sure her parents won't mind. They always cook too much, actually."

Eiji looked unsure. "I don't want to impose… it's too sudden."

She pushed him out of the convenience store. "Nah! I'm sure they will be glad. The atmosphere hasn't been all that nice since we came back from the mountain trip, you know? They will welcome your loud ways."

"Loud ways?" he exclaimed loudly. "I'm not loud!"

"Your level of decibel right now is proving my point."

As they left the convenience store, Harumi suddenly caught sight of ruby eyes in the crowd. She looked over her shoulder and saw Yuriko standing on the sidewalk among the lines of moving passersby. Harumi watched as Yuriko's lips stretched into a smile, her oval eyes bearing onto her.

Harumi blinked and she was gone, as though eaten away by the crowd.

"What's wrong?" Eiji asked, realizing that she had pulled to a stop.

She looked at him, feeling troubled. "Oh, I just thought... nevermind. Let's go."

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived in front of Amaya's house. Harumi rummaged through her bag for the keys, and then opened the front door. "Tadaima!"

Amaya's mother popped her head out from the kitchen. "Okairi, Harumi-chan." Her eyes lit up upon seeing Eiji. "Mah, if it isn't Kikumaru-kun! Welcome, welcome! It's been a while."

Eiji bowed down respectfully. "Good evening, Shimizu-san."

"I told Eiji that he could join us for dinner. I hope that's ok?" Harumi said.

Shimizu-san clasped her hands in front of her. "Of course! It is always good to have him around!"

She went to grab Eiji by the arm and dragged him with her down the hallway. "Come on in, the table is already set"

Eiji's eyes lit up when he got a scent of the food. Forgetting his earlier reservations, he followed after her giddily. Harumi watched him go in amusement as she took off her shoes. As she lifted her head, she peered out distractedly out the long window beside the front door. What she saw made her breath catch in her throat.

She approached the window and pressed her forehead against the glass with both hands on either side of her head, and studied the opposite sidewalk.

It was empty.

She shook her head slightly. She had thought she had seen that Yuriko girl again, standing there looking into the house.

_She's so creepy. Why was she standing there smiling at me like that in the middle of the street earlier? She should have just come up to say hi._

"You better be careful of that Yuriko girl," Chiharu's words resonated in her mind once more.

"Damn you, Chiharu. You said that just to mess with me!" she mumbled under her breath.

She grabbed her bag and went to join Eiji and Shimizu-san at the dining table. The plates were already set, and chicken curry was on the menu. Eiji was already seated, staring down at the food with stars in his eyes.

"Mmm, it smells so good!" she exclaimed.

Amaya's Dad put down the newspaper he was reading and pushed his glasses up his nose. "It's Amaya's favorite. She doesn't have much of an appetite these days."

"Is she upstairs?" Harumi asked after noticing her absence.

Shimizu-san sighed as she set a bowl of soup on the table. "I'm worried about that child. She has never acted this way before."

Harumi shot her a reassuring smile. "She's going through a hard time right away, but don't worry, I will talk to her."

That being said, she engaged up the stairs and walked down the hallway till she stopped in front of Amaya's bedroom door. She knocked on it softly. "Amaya, it's me. Dinner's ready."

Only silence answered her. She knocked on the door again, this time more urgently. "Amaya, come on! It's been four days already. We need to talk."

"Leave me alone," Amaya's voice carried over. "Tell my mom I'm not hungry."

Harumi tried to turn the doorknob, but it was locked. She banged on the door again. "Amaya, you are not being yourself right now. What is wrong with you? What's so bad that you can't talk to me about it? You know, in this situation, I should be the one brooding in my room, but you don't see me doing that. So please, open the door."

"What do you know?" Amaya screamed from inside. "You don't know how I feel!"

"That's why you have to tell me," Harumi insisted softly. "Please, Amaya. Let me in."

However, the door remained obstinately closed. Harumi sighed and rested her forehead against the wood.

_Amaya, what am I supposed to do if you are like this?_

Suddenly, a warm hand clasped her shoulder, and she turned around to find Eiji standing behind her. There was an unreadable expression in his dark blue eyes as he squeezed her shoulder and then gently pushed her out of the way.

He approached the door and spoke quietly: "Amaya, I want to talk to you."

"Eiji?" Amaya asked in a small voice.

"You might feel betrayed by what Oishi did, but I feel it even more than you."

For long seconds, there was only silence, but then finally the door opened an inch. Eiji pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped in, followed by Harumi. The room was dark as the evening shadows slowly crept onto the floorboards. Amaya was standing with her back to them; her long black hair was in disarray and she seemed so small and fragile in the growing darkness that Harumi only wanted to give her a hug.

Amaya finally turned to face them, her eyes were rimmed with red.

She sat on the bed and hugged her chest to her knees. "I know I'm probably being stupid for reacting so strongly, but I can't help thinking that this is the end. I can't trust him anymore."

She eyed Eiji briefly. "I'm so sorry, Eiji. I never thought he was capable of doing something like this."

The redhead pulled a chair and sat in front of her, while Harumi went to join her on the bed.

"I don't know why Oishi did what he did," the redhead started, "but he must have had his reasons. I don't think he did it to harm me. I know that Mai… - he looked away for a second – Mai convinced him to lie. He must have thought he was doing it for my own sake, but he just made a very big mistake."

"No matter what, Oishi still loves you," Harumi said, rubbing her back. "He probably regrets it very much; he probably is in as much despair as you are right now. Don't you want to talk to him, to listen to what he has to say? You have been with him for three years now. I know you love him, so you can at least listen to what he has to say."

Amaya looked at Harumi and Eiji through teary eyes. "I don't understand how both of you can still speak on his behalf after all this."

"I've known Oishi for such a long time now," Eiji said with a sad smile. "We were inseparable ever since we were kids. Once, we were playing baseball in the streets, and I hit the ball right through a neighbor's window. The neighbor was furious, as expected, and he threatened to spank us bad. Do you what Oishi did then? He told him that it was him who had hit the ball. He's always been a self-sacrificing idiot like that… That's why... "

Harumi could see the moment that Eiji decided to finally face Oishi again as well.

"How about you, Harumi?" Amaya asked her. "How do you feel about all this? You were a victim too."

Harumi played with Amaya's blanket and looked at her, and then at Eiji. The room was so dark now that their gleaming eyes was all she could make out with clarity. She spoke up softly: "At first I thought I would not be able to forgive Oishi, but now I just ask myself: what is the point of holding a grudge against him? I want to hear his reasons first, but in the end, what's happened is already happened. Right now, I'm happy with how things are."

"So you don't hate him?" Amaya asked in a small voice.

"No, of course not."

"It's just… you are my best friend, and what he did really hurt you. And Eiji too. I just feel like he is a stranger to me now."

"That's why you need to talk to him, Amaya. That's the only way your heart can be settled."

Eiji nodded also.

"Chiharu told me she has a photoshoot at the beach over the weekend. There is a resort there, and she asked me to bring you along." She turned to Eiji. "You are also invited, Eiji. And Oishi as well. For the past four days, he's been coming here every day, Amaya, asking to speak to you. You should give him a chance to explain at the beach."

Amaya caressed her cell phone. "I know he's been coming over... he's also been calling me nonstop."

Harumi rubbed her back comfortingly. "See? He is far from giving up on what he has built with you."

Eiji's stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly. "So... can we go eat now? I don't want that chicken to get cold!" Eiji begged.

Harumi rolled her eyes, and Amaya smiled a little for the first time. She ran a hand through her messy hair and seemed horrified. "I have ignored my appearance for far too long. You guys go ahead. I need to use the washroom first."

After Amaya slid into the bathroom, Eiji stepped out into the better lit hallway and stretched his arms over his head. "Well, one good deed for tonight."

"Thanks for helping me get through to her, Eiji. I know this isn't easy for you either."

Eiji glanced down at her with one eye. "Nani, nani, don't you know? This is my best non-tennis technique: the Kikumaru Talk!"

She gave him a thumbs up and went down the stairs towards the dining table. Eiji followed after her with a satisfied expression on his face. Amaya's parents were ecstatic when Amaya came down for dinner five minutes later. They urged her to eat and dropped a pile of curry chicken on her rice, making her sweatdrop.

Harumi and Eiji watched, laughing, as she bickered at her parents for doing unnecessary things. Harumi was glad to see Amaya starting to go back to her usual self. She had missed her friend. She already knew they were going to have a long talk tonight over this matter until they fell asleep.

Amaya's parents then asked about Harumi and Eiji's plans for the rest of the summer, and Harumi talked about getting ready for Tokyo U, and trying to find a place of her own, in spite of Amaya's parents' pleas for her to stay with them. Eiji then said he was thinking of getting a pet to keep him company. He told them of the time he had gone to the pet store with Kaidoh, and how Kaidoh had stayed planted in front of the kittens' cage for two hours, playing with them with a straw.

"Cute furry things are Kaidoh's weakness, nya. If you want to win a tennis match the dirty way against him, just serve a kitten to him instead of the ball. He will drop his jacket and run forward with outstretched arms with hearts in his eyes."

Everybody laughed.

Soon, dinner was over, and it was already 10 o' clock. Eiji stood up to go; he had an early morning at the tennis courts the next day.

Amaya's parents gave him some chicken to take home, and told him to come back any time.

"You are always welcome here, son," Amaya's Dad told him as he clasped him by the shoulder.

Eiji thanked them profusely, and Amaya and Harumi walked with him to the front door. Harumi got a call from Chiharu and signaled to the two others that she'd be right back.

"Be careful going back home," Amaya told Eiji as he put his shoes on. "And thanks for coming and making dinner fun." She eyed Harumi talking on the phone and leaned in closer to Eiji to whisper: "I'm glad you are back to your cheerful self. Much better than your moody rebel self of these past two years, I must say."

Eiji just scratched his head. "What do you mean? Cheerful's always been my middle name!"

"Sorry!" Harumi bounced back after hanging up. "I just confirmed to Chiharu that you two are coming to the beach. So no going back now! Oh, you are leaving, Eiji? Don't forget your snacks."

She bent down and picked up the plastic bag for him.

"Amaya! Come here for a second!" Amaya's mom yelled from the living room.

"What now?" Amaya sighed, before eclipsing herself.

Eiji opened the door and stepped out into the cool summer night. A lamplight flickered on the sidewalk outside the house, lightning up the insects buzzing around in the night. Harumi leaned against the door frame and took in a deep breath of night air.

Eiji descended the few steps to the front yard and turned back. "Thanks for inviting me over today. I miss having dinner with so many people."

"You must miss your family."

Eiji put his hands in his pockets. "Sometimes it's just too quiet in that big house."

"Well, like Amaya's parents said, you can come have dinner with us anytime."

The redhead lifted the box of chicken. "Ok! When I run out of this, I will. Oh, and I almost forgot..."

He started rummaging inside his plastic bag, took out a bottle and threw it at her.

"What's this?" she mused as she caught it and lifted it against the light.

"I got it for ya! You will need it for sure. Ja ne, Harumi!" Eiji sauntered across the front yard to the sidewalk, where he stopped and waved at her.

Harumi waved back, and then watched him walk away in the night.

She closed the door behind her and examined the bottle in her hands. Eiji must have gotten it at the convenience store along with his snacks.

Under the light, she managed to read: _Lavender-based aromatherapy bubble bath- good for muscle soreness._

She couldn't help laughing. "That Eiji… he's not as clueless as he seems."

She hugged the bottle to her chest and giddily ran up the stairs, looking forward to the long hot bath ahead.

* * *

><p>"Moshi-mosh?" Fuji said as he answered his phone.<p>

"Syu-su-ke!"

Fuji signaled to his sister that he'd be in the car in a second. "Yuriko!" he spoke into the phone. "What's the matter, calling this late?"

"You told me it's never too late to call you."

"That was only concerning…"

"Anyway!" she interrupted. "I think photography really is my calling. By that I mean the thrill of the paparazzi when they spot a celeb doing scandalous things. It takes high technique to take a picture of what's meant to be kept secret."

He huffed a laugh at this. "Not a very ideal career choice, if I might say so. Paparazzi are vultures."

"Heh! If you say so. By the way, there's something I want to talk to you about."

Fuji sighed. "It's late, Yuriko. My sister is waiting to drive me home."

"Oh, I'm out on a long drive right now. Tell me where you are and I will pick you up!"

"What is this about?"

"Something important."

"Can it wait till tomorrow?"

"Sure, if that works better for you. Check your inbox though! I just sent you something. Have a good night!"

"Same to you."

There was a click as Yuriko hung up on her end. Fuji climbed up into the car. His phone vibrated and he saw one incoming email. He pressed on the icon and the email opened.

Fuji's sister ignited the engine and pulled out of the parking lot of the restaurant. "Was that Harumi-chan?" she inquired as she drove.

Fuji remained silent, staring at the screen of his phone.

His sister peered over curiously. "Syusuke, I just asked you a question. What are you staring at so intensely?"

Fuji's head snapped up and he shut his phone closed. "Nothing."

His sister threw him a sideways glance. "Was that Harumi-chan on the phone earlier?"

Fuji stared stiffly out of the window at the moving traffic. "No."

* * *

><p>Omfg, I know it's been forever! But school is super demanding right now, and I have no time whatsoever to write. Well, at least this was a loooonnng episode right?<p>

Plz send me your reviews, comments, thoughts, etc ;)

Oh yeah, and a warm welcome to the new readers. To those who've been with me already, I hope you guys are still around! I know it's not obvious when there's a long break between updates, but please bear with me! Thanks a lot guys! Love you all!


	11. The Beach

**The Beach**

"It's the beachhh!" Harumi hollered as she ran along the shore, feeling her toes dig into the warm movable sand with every step she took. A wave crashed near her and then receded, leaving a trail of seaweed and shells in its wake.

She turned back towards Amaya and pressed one hand against her hat lest the sea wind blow it off her head.

"This is how summer is supposed to feel like!"

Amaya jumped back with a small cry when a wave came swirling in a rush of white foam.

The sun was bright and hot in the sky, and all around them there were kids running, playing games and building castles out of sand. As far as the eye could see, tourists zigzagged among a sea of bright colored parasols planted all along the length of the shore.

Chiharu's figured emerged from the blue sea a few feet away from them, and she wiped the water off her face with one hand as she tossed her wet hair to the other side. All the men from their corner of the beach stared at her unblinkingly with awe-stricken faces, and then erupted into a collective nosebleed when she readjusted the bra of her bikini.

"I wish I had a body like hers," Harumi stated with a hand under her chin and eyes narrowed. "36-22-36. Height: 179cm. No wonder she's a model."

Amaya sweatdropped a little. "Have you been hanging out with Inui lately?"

Harumi was pensive. "Today I suddenly have a revelation as to how Inui feels. Maybe I shall finally accept his friend request on Facebook."

Chiharu spotted the two girls standing at the edge of the water and made her way towards them with a smile. A young man popped out of nowhere and went down on one knee as he offered her the dry towel draped across his forearm. Chiharu accepted the towel gracefully and blew him a kiss as thanks. The young man dropped face first into the sand with a love arrow piercing his forehead. His friends hurried to carry him away.

Chiharu stopped at Harumi and Amaya's level and spread the towel down on the sand before putting her sunglasses on and sitting down. "The water is good girls, you should go for a swim too."

"Later," Harumi affirmed as she squatted down beside Chiharu. Amaya also sat down beside them.

Chiharu started talking about her photoshoot, and pointed at a white van parked near the beach. Guys wearing blue shirts were carrying equipment from the van to a private section of the beach.

"Make sure you don't break too many hearts before the photoshoot," Amaya advised, lifting a fistful of sand and watching it slip out of her hand.

Chiharu looked around them at the guys still stealing glances her way, and threw her head back to laugh. "I missed this; being the center of attention and all. I have been inconspicuous for way too long." She winked at the girls. "Maybe I will find myself a boy today. You two can be my wing-women."

"You probably don't need any extra help from us," Harumi said. "You can choose anyone from the whole beach."

Chiharu sighed dramatically as she applied sunscreen on her arms. "They don't interest me. None of them do. I'm thinking of getting myself a nice guy for a change. A guy who will make ME his priority; a guy who will drop everything and come running to me if I need him. And most importantly, a guy who can handle me, since I know I'm a handful."

"Don't we all want someone like that?" Harumi answered as she distractedly traced figures in the sand with her finger.

Chiharu, however, seemed not to have heard her. "He doesn't need to be rich; he doesn't need to be the hottest guy on earth. I just need someone who can accept me, even the worst side of me. Neh, Harumi, do you reckon there's someone like that out there?"

Harumi peered at her face carefully. Then, she put a gentle hand on the red-haired girl's forearm. "I'm sure there is. Just be patient and he will come to you." She inched Chiharu's head up and made her look around her: "Maybe he's here on this very beach, amidst the crowd, just waiting to bump into you."

Chiharu gave a small smile. "You are so cheesy, Haru."

"I'm not!" Harumi rebutted. "Neh, Amaya, don't you agree that Chiharu's soulmate could be on this very beach?"

Receiving no response, Harumi turned towards the black-haired girl and saw her looking over their shoulders with a vacant look in her eyes. She followed Amaya's gaze and saw Oishi approaching them, followed closely by Fuji, Eiji, and a guy with long black hair pulled up into a ponytail.

Chiharu's eyes zoomed in on him. "Neh, who's that? He looks familiar, but I can't quite put a name to his face."

"That's Jiro-kun, Syusuke's friend from his photography club."

Chiharu rested her chin on her palm with a predatory glint in her eyes. "Hmmm… he's hot! Harumi, you better introduce me."

Harumi sweatdropped. "Focus, Chiharu. You need to find your soulmate, not another hot guy."

"Who says my soulmate can't be hot? That Jiro guy looks like soulmate material to me! Here he comes!" she readjusted her sunglasses and pulled up her bikini before standing up.

"You are hopeless, moh!"

"Gomennn, I'm late," a voice suddenly rose from behind them.

The three girls turned around to see Yuriko running towards them with two bags of cold drinks in her arms.

Chiharu rolled her eyes. "Remind me again why she's here?"

Harumi sighed. "Syusuke invited her along with Jiro-kun."

Yuriko arrived at their level and put down the bags on the sand before straightening up and wiping her brow. "Phew! I hope I didn't make you wait for too long."

"Not long enough," Chiharu whispered to Harumi, making her snort.

"No worries, just on time," Amaya told her with a smile. "Look, the guys have just arrived."

Yuriko shielded her eyes from the sun and peeked in direction of the approaching guys, and a look of approval painted itself on her face. "Quite the good looking bunch, I'd say. Girls, we are lucky to know them!"

Chiharu huffed a laugh. "I don't know about good looking, but most of them are a bunch of idiots upon closer inspection." She smirked at Yuriko. "I've known them for double the time you have, sweetie. Trust me on this."

Yuriko's eyes widened. "Really? I don't really know Kikumaru and Oishi, but Syusuke and Jiro are great people."

Amaya bit her lower lip. "Well, Oishi is the stupidest of them all."

Having said that, she took off her t-shirt and walked away into the sea in her bikini.

Yuriko saw her leave with confusion in her ruby eyes. She turned to Harumi: "Chiharu-chan might be right. I only know Jiro well among those four. I mean, I also know Syusuke from high school, but I can't say that I _know_ him, if you know what I mean. He's a pretty private person sometimes."

She gauged Harumi's expression, but the latter just let out a disinterested "Heh…"

"Anyway," Yuriko resumed, seemingly disappointed with Harumi's lack of response, "I'm not well acquainted with the other two at all. Anything interesting to share about any of them?"

_I really don't want to play this game with you._

"Why don't you find out for yourself after talking to them?" Harumi replied with an awkward smile.

"Hello, girls," Fuji greeted them with his usual smile.

Eiji gave a small wave at Harumi and Chiharu, and briefly introduced himself to Yuriko. However, Harumi could see that he did not seem that much at ease. After all, he was sandwiched between Fuji and Oishi, two people with whom his relationship was more than complicated at the moment.

Last came Jiro. He gave a nod to Yuriko and then his gaze fell on Harumi. Chiharu nudged Harumi in the ribs, and the honey-haired girl hurried to say: "Jiro-kun, this is Chiharu-chan. We are here today thanks to her."

Jiro's dark eyes fell on the redhead. He uttered a faint "nice to meet you" and let his gaze return to Harumi once more. Chiharu's mouth twisted up in a displeased pout upon seeing his lack of interest.

Harumi met Jiro's dark eyes and smiled tentatively, but Jiro didn't smile back; he simply continued staring at her intently.

_Why is he always staring at me like this? Just like the first time I met him…_

She remembered the day before when she had met Jiro for the first time. She was leaving Fuji's house when she encountered him walking up the alley to Fuji's residence. Fuji had introduced them, and Jiro had looked at her with the same intensity that he was displaying right now. She wondered if she had done something to make him hate her already. Knowing her, she probably had done something without being conscious of it.

She forced herself to stop looking at Jiro, and quickly went to Fuji. "You guys are late!"

Fuji planted a small kiss on her cheek. "Gomen. We were right behind you, but then traffic got too thick and our cars got separated."

Oishi was looking for Amaya, and seemed disappointed when he did not see her. Chiharu approached him and whispered: "She went for a swim. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get the chance to talk to her today."

Oishi addressed a grateful smile her way. Then, he turned around and crossed Eiji's eyes. The redhead looked away and took off his shirt.

"I'm going for a swim. The water looks good!" he said to no one in particular before walking towards the sea, leaving faint footprints in the sand.

Harumi sweatdropped a little at the atmosphere. It wasn't a good start. There were too many people who could not stand each other reunited in the same spot. She really hoped Chiharu knew what she was doing when she chose to invite everyone here. Harumi had been game with the whole getting Eiji, Oishi, and Amaya together thing, but what she had not expected was the presence of Jiro and Yuriko.

When she had mentioned the beach stay to Fuji, the latter had proposed that Yuriko and Jiro also come along. To take pictures, he had said. Harumi couldn't possibly have said no; she couldn't possibly tell Fuji that Yuriko made her uncomfortable, when it was clear that Fuji considered her to be one of his good friends.

Another reason why she had not complained about Yuriko and Jiro coming was because she had felt Fuji acting weird lately.

It had started that day when Fuji went to have dinner with his sister. He had said that he would call her right after dinner, but he never did. She had taken a bath with her phone close by, waiting for his call, and then she had fallen asleep with the phone clutched to her chest, but he had never ended up calling.

The next day, when she had asked him about it, he had said nonchalantly that he'd fallen asleep in the car on the way back home. She had accepted his answer and hadn't thought much of it until later that day when they had gone for a date in the park. He hadn't been talkative at all, and had seemed overall distant. When she'd asked him what was wrong, he had only smiled and said "nothing is wrong".

She watched him now as he busied himself with planting their parasol in the sand. She knew that this trip to the beach was also for her to work on her relationship with Fuji; to return to how things were before the mountain trip. This was her chance to fix whatever had gone awry since then.

Her eyes narrowed when Yuriko approached Fuji to ask him if he needed any help.

_That damn Yuriko! She's always sticking to him like a leech._

Fuji was now telling Yuriko to hold the parasol in place as he planted it in the ground. Harumi let go of the blanket she was spreading on the sand, stood up and walked over to them.

"How are things going?" she asked.

"Almost there," Fuji grunted.

Finally, the parasol stabilized and Fuji let it go with a small sigh of satisfaction. Yuriko sat back and clapped her hands cheerfully. "Good job, Syusuke!"

Fuji wiped the sweat from his brow. He was about to stand up when Harumi plopped down and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Neh, do you want to go for a swim?" she whispered in his ear.

Fuji caressed her forearm. "Maybe later. We should put the drinks in the ice box before they become too warm."

She tightened her hold on him. "The drinks can wait. I need to cool down too. The sun is way too hot. Everyone's gone swimming. Neh?"

She let go of him to crouch down in front of him instead, and gave him her best imitation of Puss in Boots. "Please?"

Fuji eyed her for a second and sighed. "Very good. Why not?"

She did a happy dance with her arms. "Yay!"

She stepped out from under the parasol and Fuji followed her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Yuriko watching them with those ruby eyes of her, and pointed her tongue inwardly.

_Chiharu would have been proud of my performance. Maybe her ways are rubbing off on me…_

She sweatdropped internally at this, but then quickly reported her attention back onto her boyfriend.

_Oh well, what's important is that I can finally spend some quality time with him now._

She smiled and took off her white t-shirt to reveal the purple bikini she wore underneath. Her cheeks flared a rosy red at the look of appreciation in Fuji's eyes. She clasped their hands together and pulled him towards the roaring waves. "Come on!"

"Hold on…" Fuji said, as he also took off his shirt.

Harumi arched an eyebrow. "I see someone's been working out lately."

Fuji let his bangs hide his eyes, and pulled her forward silently. She laughed at his embarrassment and let him pull her into the ocean. The water was cool, and made her scream out a little.

Fuji splashed sea water onto her back, making her scream. She twirled around and tried to splash him back, but only managed to recoil into deeper waters. Fuji held her back by the forearm and laughed at her face as she jumped out of the water with goosebumps all over her skin.

"Pwah! So salty!" she wiped at her mouth.

"Ocean water is supposed to be salty," he replied philosophically.

"Duh! No need to be a tensai to know that," she said before splashing him in the face.

She pointed a finger at his shocked face and dripping bangs, laughing, but quickly hopped away in the water when she detected a scary smile starting to sprout from his pressed lips. Sure enough, soon after that Fuji generated a tsunami wave that chased after her.

She screamed, splattered away and then let out a cry of victory when the wave only managed to splash her back. Her joy was short-lived, however, when she stepped on a slippery rock and fell backwards into the water. Fuji laughed and cupped up water in his hands, waiting to splash her in the face once she'd come back up to the surface.

However, after several seconds, there was still no trace of her.

"Harumi?" he called out as he scanned the waters.

Worry crossed his eyes at the still waters, and he plunged in after her. Under the water, he forced himself to open his eyes, wincing when the salt pickled at them.

However, when he did manage to see more clearly, all he saw were blobs of colors and moving seaweed, but no trace of Harumi. Suddenly, something rolled itself around his ankle and pulled him down. Letting bubbles out of his mouth in surprise, he twisted around and saw Harumi's hand around his ankle. Her hair was floating all around her like a fan, and she was smirking at him.

He bent over and grabbed her by the waist. Seconds later, they both emerged back up into open air, gasping for breath. Harumi clung to him as she dissolved into bouts of laughter.

"You were scared! Admit it!"

Fuji was still trying to recover his breath. "You are crazy, Harumi!" he panted.

Harumi stuck out her tongue at him. "I think I held my breath for one whole minute in there! My new record!"

Fuji tapped her on the head. "Stop doing such dangerous things? What if you really drowned? And what if I didn't know how to swim? I wouldn't have been able to go after you!"

Purple eyes blinked back at him. "Oh please! You aren't a tensai for nothing. There's nothing you don't know how to do."

They had drifted into deeper waters, away now from the bulk of swimmers. Fuji looked at her with piercing blue eyes. "You'd be surprised. I'm not as perfect as you think."

Harumi swam around him like a shark. "Really? For the record, I'm a great swimmer, so if you had dived after me without knowing how to swim, I would have saved you. It doesn't always have to be you doing the saving."

Fuji was spinning around on the spot, trying to keep her within his sight as she swam lithely around him like a fish. He was grinning now. "Would you really save me?"

Harumi swam towards him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Of course! I took first-aid courses in high school. I know all about CPR and all that."

Fuji coughed a little. "I think I might have some water in my lungs from your little stunt." He peeked at her from underneath his wet bangs. "So how does that CPR of yours work?"

Harumi bit her lower lip with a smile as her legs pedaled in the water. "Close your eyes."

Fuji obliged.

Harumi examined him closely. "They are REALLY closed, aren't they?"

Fuji sighed. "Of course."

Harumi gently grabbed a handful of his wet hair and pulled his head back a little. She looked at his closed eyes, the bridge of his nose, and the wet bangs plastered against his forehead. She threw a careful glance around them to make sure no one was watching, and then slowly closed the distance between their floating bodies. She approached her mouth to his and hovered there, so close that she could feel his breath on her skin. She remembered that being this close to him would have turned all her muscles jelly three years ago. But right now she was supposed to be the one saving him, so she had to be strong. In the back of her mind, she realized that it wasn't so hard to keep it together anymore. Maybe she was finally getting used to his charm.

Trying to further explore this feeling of control, she approached her mouth to his ear instead and murmured: "First, I need to drag you closer to shore, Fuji-san."

Fuji opened his eyes. "It's been a long time since I heard you call me that."

"I know."

She swam behind him, seized him by the armpits and started dragging him slowly towards more superficial waters.

Fuji kept his eyes open and stared up at the blueness of the sky above them as he slowly floated on the water. He could feel Harumi's hands under his arms as she puffed slightly behind him with the effort of dragging him. She really knew how to make him wait. Had she always been like this?

He was lost in thought, watching the few clouds drift by in the sky, when suddenly her face invaded his field of vision. His eyes focused on her face as she pinned a strand of wet hair behind one ear. She watched him with tenderness for a moment, and then her face inched closer to his. "Don't cheat," she whispered softly as she covered his eyes with one hand. A second later, her lips were finally touching his.

Fuji allowed her to nibble softly at his lower lip, before her mouth covered his and their lips moulded together. He lifted his head off the surface of the water and was surprised when his feet encountered the ocean floor. Harumi must have dragged him for quite some distance to more superficial waters.

He stood upright and felt her hand fall away from his eyes. He opened them and saw her beaming, her cheeks pink. "Are you alive now?" she asked.

"Not quite," he answered as he cupped her face with both hands and pulled her closer to him once more.

Harumi ran her hand slowly down his chest, tracing the muscles of his pecs and abs under the water. Fuji hugged her to him and planted a long kiss on her neck, followed by another, and then another, until he felt her breath quickening. He left a trail of wet kisses along the base of her neck, and then up to her ear, to her cheek, and finally to the corner of her mouth.

Harumi turned her head slightly and their mouths met again for another languorous kiss. Fuji's lips were warm on hers, and she felt that overwhelming feeling of turning into pudding again. Fuji lifted her up in his arms and she allowed her fingers to dig into his brown hair.

She felt Fuji's hand on her lower back, almost burning in contrast to the cool ocean water. She crossed both legs around his hips and let him carry her weight.

"I missed you, Fuji." She whispered in between kisses. "I have been wondering where you have gone to."

Fuji nudged her nose with his. "I'm here. I've always been here."

She brushed her lips against his and sighed against his mouth when his hand moved up to her shoulder blades.

"I love you, Harumi. Always remember that."

"I love you more," she smiled.

_Ask him what was bothering him earlier._

The sudden thought made her startle. Fuji traced a finger down her cheek. "Daijoubu?"

"Yes… but I was wondering… you seemed pretty distant this past week. Is something on your mind? You know you can tell me anything."

They disentangled themselves and Harumi lowered her legs until her feet slowly touched the ocean floor again. A wave rolled past them, splashing water onto their faces. Fuji let out a small bout of laughter and laced his fingers with hers. "Come on, let's go back now."

Harumi allowed herself to be pulled behind him, but she still spoke up to the rolling muscles of his back: "You still haven't answered my question."

"It was nothing, Harumi."

Harumi pulled on his hand to a stop and swam in front of him. "Syusuke, I don't think it was nothing. I kept feeling as though I had done something to upset you."

Fuji passed a hand through his wet brown locks and sighed. "I feel stupid telling you about it now. I know you don't like it when I get jealous."

Harumi eyed him in confusion. "Jealous? Oh yes… in the parking lot under the mountains. Well… that's… I'm sorry… I was out of line when I said that to you." She fidgeted . "I can understand where you were coming from."

Fuji studied her face. "So you won't get mad at me again for being jealous?"

"Were you acting distant because you were jealous?"

She tried to think back to the past week, but could not remember being overly nice to a guy in front of Fuji.

_Unless… it's about Eiji again? Crap! Did he find out about me going to Eiji's secret tennis practices with Kirihara?!_

Fuji sighed again, looking embarrassed as well. "Remember that day when I had dinner with my sister?"

_That day? Oh… when he said he'd call me, but never did. Oh no! That's when I played tennis with Eiji!_

"Yeah…?" she let out, scared at where this was going.

Fuji cleared his throat. "Well, I called you before dinner and you said you were downtown. Later, I found out that you were there with Eiji. Harumi, I'm sorry, I know you see Eiji as a friend, but I can't help feeling a little jealous when you two are alone together. After all, you do have a history with him."

Harumi tried to process it all. She first felt relieved that Eiji's secret was still safe; she didn't want him to be ousted because of her. However…

"How did you know I was with him? I'm not saying you are wrong… we did bump into each other and go to a convenience store. But… I've never told you this until now because you never asked. So how did you know?"

Fuji scratched his temple with an uncomfortable expression. "Yes… actually, Yuriko mentioned seeing you together downtown."

_I knew it was her outside the convenience store!_

"What exactly did she say?" she asked louder than she intended.

"Nothing much, just that you were with him."

Harumi rolled her eyes and started quick-walking in the water towards the shore. Fuji hurried after her. "I knew it. You are mad, aren't you?"

"Yes, but not at you," she let out between clenched teeth.

"You shouldn't be mad at Yuriko either. She did not mean any harm, I'm sure. It's my fault for misinterpreting the information she gave me."

Harumi twirled around. "Why are you even defending her?" She pointed a finger at his chest. "Now that we are on the subject, what exactly is your relationship with her? Chiharu told me she has a crush on you; is that true?"

_… there, I said it._

To her astonishment, he suddenly laughed. "Now who's the one being jealous, Harumi-chan?"

Harumi and Fuji had presently returned onto the beach. The honey-haired girl placed her hands on her hips. "It's a perfectly legit question. It's true, isn't it?"

Fuji closed his eyes and smiled. "Saa… maybe she has a crush on me. Maybe she doesn't."

Harumi wasn't about to let this go, but then Chiharu suddenly popped out of nowhere and interposed herself between them: "Harumi! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you! Ah… hi there, Fuji! Let me borrow her for awhile!"

Before any of them could respond, the fiery Chiharu had dragged Harumi away on the sand. Fuji watched them go, sweatdropping slightly. He saw Harumi throwing him a glance from above her shoulder, and her glare told him that their conversation was not over. When the girls were out of sight, he let out a sigh of relief. Internally, he thanked Chiharu for intervening at such an appropriate moment. He did not want to bring up the topic of Yuriko… yet.

Something cold pressed itself against his back, making him startle. He turned around to come face to face with Jiro. The long-haired boy stared at the tensai with his usual expressionless eyes, and then handed him a cold Ponta.

"Thank you, Jiro-kun," Fuji accepted the drink with a smile.

"She seems like a nice girl," Jiro spoke in an undertone, staring in the direction the girls had disappeared.

"Harumi?" Fuji asked.

Jiro nodded silently, and then his black irises came to rest on Fuji's face. Fuji clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Don't you set your eyes on her too, Jiro. I have enough competition as it is."

Jiro's eyes widened slightly. "No, that's not what I meant."

Fuji waved him off with a smile. "I know, I was simply joking." He started walking in direction of their parasol. "To be honest, I never thought I would experience the feeling of having to compete with anyone over her. Three years ago, she only had eyes for me. What do you think has changed? Is it her? Or is it me?"

Jiro took a sip of his drink silently.

Fuji turned his head slightly towards him, awaiting an answer. Jiro wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stated placidly: "Aren't you overthinking this, Fuji-kun? I don't see this competition that you speak of."

Fuji smiled his usual smile. "You are right. I must be overthinking things."

* * *

><p><p>

"What? WHAT? I was in the middle of a serious conversation!" Harumi shouted as she tried to break free of Chiharu's grip on her wrist.

However, the other girl didn't pay her any mind as she continued jogging across the beach, sometimes slipping due to the uneven sand under her feet. Harumi also tried her very best to keep pace with her as she tried not to fall face first into the first sand dune.

"Can you at least tell me where we are going?" Harumi asked between two pants, without much hope of a reply.

However, Chiharu surprised her by yelling: "The yacht, baka! It's leaving soon!"

"Yacht? WHAT YACHT? Are you sending me into exile?"

Chiharu rolled her eyes. "No! Did you forget the REAL purpose of today Haru? Ah, we are here!"

Harumi managed not to crash into Chiharu's back with the help of some superhuman reflexes. As she lifted her eyes, she saw a small white yacht anchored to a wooden port.

Eiji, Oishi and Amaya were standing in front of it, at respectable distance from each other. Upon seeing Harumi, Eiji's eyes filled with relief. "You are late!" he called out.

"Late? But nobody told me…"

Chiharu pushed her towards the group. "Hurry up! I only managed to rent the yacht for two hours, and we have already wasted five minutes!"

Chiharu signalled to an older guy already on the yacht. "Sorry, mister! We are ready to go!"

The older guy threw his cigarette in the water and readjusted his sunglasses. "Come onboard."

Amaya eyed Harumi, still dripping wet in her bikini. "Are you going to be okay? It's going to get windy on the yacht."

"It's not like I have a choice, moh! Chiharu didn't even give me time to grab a towel," she sighed as she pushed her hair back.

Something colorful fell over her head, and she grabbed at it until it fell down on her arms. It was the plaid shirt that Eiji had been wearing over his tshirt earlier. She gave him a small smile as thanks.

Amaya hid a giggle behind her hand. "Look at him, trying to act cool!"

Eiji closed an eye. "I'm always cool, neh, Harumi?"

Harumi slowly put on Eiji's plaid shirt over her bikini. It was warm, and still retained the smell of him. She suddenly flashbacked to that morning in Atobe's house three years ago, when she had woken up in Eiji's shirt. The night before, they had kissed for the first time in the cellar room by the pool.

_What's going on? The other day too at the tennis court! Why is it that all of a sudden these memories are resurfacing? Even after three years… why does it feel like yesterday?_

"Harumi?" Amaya's voice called out

"Oh… yes, I'm coming."

She tapped her cheeks forcefully and then ran onto the port, and then hopped onto the white yacht. The older guy ignited the engine, and soon the yacht slid away from the port and headed towards deeper waters, gaining speed as it skipped on the waves.

Amaya clung to the side rail and let out a fearful and yet excited scream as the yacht seemed to fly in the air for a couple of seconds before falling back on the water again.

Eiji made his way to the front and spread his arms wide and shouted nonsensical words at the top of his lungs. His enthusiasm wasn't dampened even when a huge wave splashed him wet from head to toe.

Harumi and Oishi sat down at the back and gripped the railings tight, generally more reserved, and each in their own thoughts.

The older guy drove the yacht far into the heart of the ocean, from where the shore only looked like a faint yellow line barely separating the two immense masses of blue that were the ocean and the sky. There, the waves were less rocky, and the waters were almost calm around them. He stopped the engine, and the little white boat fell silent.

"Excuse me, miss," the older guy said to Harumi, who stood up from her seat and made way for him to pass.

He went to fetch a fishing line, and a box of worms, and then went to sit at the back of the boat, where a box of cold beer was waiting. Readjusting his sunglasses on top of his nose, he threw his line and said out loud to no one in particular: "I'll be fishing here for awhile. Tell me when you are ready to leave."

The four young people looked at each other in silence, and then looked away.

Harumi looked around them with a feeling of apprehension. What was Chiharu thinking, dropping them in the middle of nowhere like this? She pulled on the edges of Eiji's plaid shirt, and sighed.

Eiji was still standing at the front of the yacht, looking away into the blue ocean. Oishi was still sitting at the back, looking down at his feet. She crossed Amaya's eyes, and saw fear in them. That look gave her the determination she needed. Taking in a deep breath, she sat back down beside Oishi, and said: "Eiji, Amaya, come here and sit."

Amaya let herself fall down beside her, facing Oishi, and Eiji slowly strolled to the back of the yacht, and sat facing Harumi.

Seeing that no one was speaking up, Harumi tapped Oishi's knee, making him jerk his head up. His eyes crossed those of Amaya, and turned sad. Amaya did not look away this time.

"Oishi," Harumi called out gently. "Tell us what happened. Don't omit anything. Don't lie."

Without looking away from Amaya's eyes, Oishi started in a low voice: "It was six months after Harumi left for France. Eiji was having trouble coping with… - he threw a brief glance towards Harumi – coping with the break up. On top of that, his family left him behind, and he had just started living by himself. I could see that he was not well, even though he kept telling everyone otherwise."

Harumi glanced at Eiji, and saw him listening with a frown.

"One day," Oishi pursued. "Eiji and I played a match against some kids from the neighborhood. We lost. We had never lost at street tennis before. So Eiji, I asked you to tell me the truth. And finally, you told me you wanted to speak to Harumi again."

Slowly, Eiji nodded.

"I did not know Harumi's number, and I did not know her email, so I promised Eiji I would ask Amaya and find out. Only, that day, Mai was at the tennis courts, and she had heard the whole conversation. On my way home, she intercepted me, and she told me that…" he looked down at his feet again.

"It's all right," Harumi reassured him. "I know it's a touchy subject, but we are all prepared to listen to this till the end."

Oishi clasped his hands together. "Mai told me that Eiji talking to Harumi again would only make matters worse, and at the time, her words made sense. I could see that my friend was hurting because he still could not get over Harumi. And Harumi, you had already chosen, and your choice wasn't Eiji. So I thought that talking to you, prolonging this unhealthy contact with you, would make it so that he would never be able to forget, and to move on. I didn't really know what to do about it, but Mai suggested the idea that I lie to Eiji, that I tell him that Harumi had said she did not wish to speak to him again."

He let out a bitter chuckle. "She told me that if I were truly Eiji's friend, I should be able to do it. Some lies, she said, are told out of love. And I could see that Eiji was spiralling downwards. His social life was suffering, and his tennis was suffering too. Sometimes, I did not even recognize my own friend. And so… I did as Mai told me. I made a bad call. I'm sorry, Eiji, for lying to you. I'm sorry, Harumi, for hurting you. I'm sorry, Amaya, for going behind your back and doing something so not me."

There were tears in his eyes as he finished speaking.

Tears were also streaming down Amaya's cheeks. "Baka," she said with a hand to her mouth. "You should have talked to me about it. It must have been hard, bearing this all by yourself."

Oishi slowly looked up at her. "I swear to you, Amaya, I'm never going to lie to you ever again. Not out of love, not out of anything. If there is one thing I learned out of this, it's that there are no good lies. You are the love of my life, Amaya. You deserve nothing but the truth, always."

Gently, Amaya grabbed his hands and nodded as more tears fell down.

"Do you forgive me?" Oishi asked.

Again, Amaya nodded.

Slowly, Harumi put a hand on Oishi's shoulder. "I'm sorry too, Oishi. It wasn't just your fault. If only I had not… done the most stupid thing I have ever done in my life… I'm sorry."

She stood up and walked to the front of the yacht, and gripped the railing as she tried to breathe.

Oishi's eyes crossed those of Eiji. The redhead smiled through his tears, and said: "Amaya is right, you were being stupid. But no matter what happens, you are my best friend, and that will never change."

Oishi eyes filled with emotion. "Eiji…"

The redhead clasped a hand on his friend's shoulder, and Oishi clasped his.

"Let's play a singles game against each other, you and I," Eiji proposed.

Oishi dried his tears with the back of his hand. "Yes, we will settle the score."

"I won't go easy on you."

"You better not, because I won't either."

The two boys smiled at each other, and then Oishi signalled to Harumi standing against the railing of the boat. Eiji looked over his shoulder, and then gave Oishi a loud clap on the shoulder before standing up and walking to Harumi.

Oishi reported his attention to Amaya, and the latter came to sit next to him. Hesitantly, he lifted an arm to drape over her shoulders, and she gently leaned against him. "I missed you," she said against his shirt. "I felt so lonely without you. I should have heard you out earlier. I'm sorry for being so immature."

Oishi tapped her gently on the shoulder. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You were right in being angry at me. Your forgiveness means everything."

She looked up at him with those clear green eyes of hers as he gently placed a strand of black hair behind her ear. He smiled lovingly down at her, and she smiled back.

In the meantime, Eiji leaned against the railing of the yacht, beside Harumi.

She was staring far away into the distance, her eyes still a bit red. The ocean wind was blowing her hair against her face, but she was paying it no heed. For a long moment, they just stayed there in silence.

"You said you were sorry for doing the most stupid you have done in your life. Did you mean picking beef ramen over seafood ramen as your favorite?"

Harumi did not laugh. Eiji sighed and nudged her. "Come on, don't be like this, Harumi."

"I was referring to saying yes to dating you back then…" she whispered. "No matter what Mai has done, she was right about this one thing."

Eiji froze beside her, and gripped the railing hard. "Really? I'm sorry to hear that."

Two wide purple eyes turned towards him. "No… it's not what you think. Those days spent with you, Eiji, that is not what I regret. I regret saying yes to dating you so soon, when I still had feeling for Fuji. It was a stupid thing to do, and it hurt you, and me, and all our friends."

The redhead looked down at the waves. "Well, I don't regret you saying yes to me. In spite of everything, those days spent with you have been some of the happiest days of my life."

Harumi held her breath for a second. He turned to look at her, and their eyes met.

"I have found myself thinking of the past a lot lately, and I know those were good days," she found herself confessing. "After hearing what Oishi said today about you, I can't help but regret bringing this upon you, because all this pain, it cannot be worth those few days of happiness."

"For me, it was worth it."

She shook her head. "You are just saying this to make me feel better."

He flicked her on the forehead. "Now you are just being self-centered. No, it's the truth. I never lie. I don't know how to lie, especially to you."

She massaged her forehead with a moody frown. A sea gull croaked above their heads, and Harumi looked up to see its white shape flapping its wings as it circled above them.

_I've forgotten how generous Eiji can be. _

"Our relationship started so suddenly, and ended so suddenly. It's such a waste… it could have been… it could have been different."

She blinked and looked at the redhead with unease in her chest, surprised at her own words. But Eiji was not looking at her, but at the ocean. His face seemed a little sad.

She had not meant to put that look on his face.

"E-Eiji…" She thought quickly. "Ah yes, do you remember the day you came to visit me before I left for France?"

His finger tapped on the railing. "When I said I'd let you go?"

"Y-yes."

_No. No. NO, this topic is no better than the previous one!_

"What about it?" he asked.

_Well, since we are at it, better ask it, ask it and get it over with._

"Well, there's this one thing that's always bothered me a little bit. Before you said that… that you'd let me go, I got this feeling that you wanted to say something else."

_It's so stupid. Maybe it was all in my head._

Eiji had a small smile. "Does it matter now?"

"So you did have something to say!"

He shrugged. "Yes, I suppose I did. But I thought better of it."

"Can I ask why?" she demanded quietly.

Eiji saw her worried expression and mussed up her still half wet hair. "Look at you, being so anxious about something that happened three years ago."

She did not look away. "It's because I still remember vividly that look you had in your eyes. If you had something to say then, then it matters to me. I want to hear it."

Eiji sighed and stretched his arms. "It was the opposite of what I said, that's what it was. I was about to be a selfish kid who only thought about himself. But luckily I remembered that you had chosen Fuji, so I didn't end up saying any of those things."

Harumi nervously closed Eiji's plaid shirt tighter over her body, lest the wind blew it open.

She heard herself ask in a quiet whisper: "And what if I hadn't chosen Fuji? What were those selfish words that you would have said then?"

Eiji studied her face for a long time after that, so long, it seemed, that the sea wind was about to dry her skin and crack her lips to pieces. Slowly, she wiped her hair out of her face and looked up at him earnestly.

He was there, towering over her, his red hair standing in spikes because of the salt and of the wind. There was that light in his eyes again, that same light that had been present when he had been in her room three years ago.

"Don't go. I'm not letting you go. I know that you have lost your parents. I know that your family is in shambles, and that your brother needs someone by his side. But going to some foreign country? What are you thinking? That is going to make everything worse. What remains of your life is here. Your friends are here. Those who love you are here. You can't run away from them all. I will bind you to your bed with the toughest rope, and I will pile your giant travel bag over your body, if you ever try to leave. I don't care what's the right thing to do. All I know is that I need you here, and here is where you will stay."

Without knowing, Harumi had let go of the plaid shirt to clasp her hands over her mouth. The wind blew open the shirt, revealing her purple two –piece.

Tears came unbidden to her eyes as her heart ached in her chest. She had yearned to hear those words back then; she had begged Fuji to ask her to stay, but he had chosen to do the right thing instead, by asking her to leave with her brother and her Aunt.

Eiji studied her for a moment longer, before he let out his usual cat grin. "Or something along those lines! Nice speech, eh? I just came up with it! Maybe it would have made you want to stay back then."

Harumi let her hands fall away from her mouth, her purple eyes huge. "Huh? What? WHAT?"

Eiji scratched his head unrepentantly. "Hoi, I totally don't remember what I was about to say back then, but you seemed so serious, so I felt I had to say some… ahh, wait!"

He leaned back just in time to avoid one of her punches.

"Eiji, youuuu!" she shouted as she aimed towards his face again.

The redhead jumped away with horror. "Wait! I'm sorry! That was in bad taste, I know! Please have mercy!"

There was a volcano erupting out of her eyes when she growled: "No mercy!" and jumped over him. She landed on him and pounded him to the ground, where she sat on top of him and pulled at his hair.

"Help!" Eiji cried out. "Amaya! Oishiiii! She's going to kill me!"

Eiji twisted himself on the floor of the yacht and managed to see Amaya and Oishi making out on the seats without paying him any attention. His heart sank when he realized he was doomed.

At that moment, the older man stepped over them placidly to reach the wheel of the yacht.

"Sit tight, youngsters. I'm going to drive back now."

When the boat lurched, Harumi lost her balance a bit and fell over him. Eiji quickly seized that opportunity to squeeze out from underneath her and crawl away.

Harumi stood back up behind him like a vengeance-seeking demon. Somehow, she had found a bat and was now holding it in both hands. "Matte, Eiji," she growled.

Eiji paled at the sight of her and started running madly around the yacht, wondering if he'd ever survive to see the shore again.

* * *

><p>Yuriko was applying some more sunscreen, when Jiro sat down beside her quietly.<p>

"What do you want?" she asked.

"The hospital called," he said.

She jerked up straight and gripped his arm hard. "What did they say?"

"Father has taken a turn for the worst."

She let her hand fall down, her eyes shaking. "It's not the first time. He will be fine."

"Still, I think it is best if we go see him."

She slowly shook her head. "No… no… it's going to be all right. We should be here. Tonight. Tonight is important."

Jiro's black expressionless eyes settled on her. "We should drop this. I know you have feelings for Fuji."

She slapped him on the cheek, and quickly eyed Fuji, who was busy fixing the parasol that kept falling.

Jiro did not let the slap deter him. "If you are not going to go see father, at least put your time to good use. That girl, Harumi Yamazaki, is not here right now."

Without paying him any more attention, Yuriko stood up and walked towards Fuji across the sand.

"Oh my! It fell again?"

Fuji turned to look at her, brushing at the sweat with the back of his hand. "Yes. It will not stay, no matter what I do."

She crouched down beside him. "Here, let me help."

Fuji smiled at her. "Thank you, Yuriko."

She smiled back. "Not at all."

* * *

><p>Guuyys, I don't know what to say. I know it's been a longer eternity than last time before I updated this chapter! Ugh, I'm so sorry! I'd say it won't happen again, but that would probably be a lie XD. Real life is busy. Real busy. Busy like bees. So all I can say is... just write me comments and urge me to write. When I see them, there's this... giant bonfire that lights up underneath me and I feel compelled to let real life sit in the corner for a few hours and start typing again. So I will be counting on you, ok? :D<p>

** Guest:** THANK YOUU :)

**Kurosora:** nice nickname, first of all! Black Sky in english? :) And thanks a lot for the review! Yes, yes, yes, your instincts are right on the spot! That was definitely about Harumi and Eiji on Fuji's phone ;) As you can see from this chapter, although he hasn't shown her the picture yet. As for your ideas for the plot development, all I can say is, what you have in mind for this story is VERY similar to what I have in mind ;) And I agree that they would make for excellent storylines.

**Floofybunny:** Hi there! Thank you so much for reading this! Much appreciated! Hope you liked this too! Ja ne!


	12. Test of Courage

**Test of Courage**

Harumi sighed for the umpteenth time. "Hey guys, aren't we getting too old for this kind of thing?"

"Nonsense!" Chiharu beamed a ghostly smile illuminated by the yellow light of her flashlight. "The highlight of summer vacation is the test of courage!"

Their little group was at the outskirts of the woods with flashlights in their hands. After Amaya, Oishi, Eiji and Harumi had come back from the yacht trip, they had had dinner around the campfire with Fuji, Jiro, Yuriko and Chiharu, and then Chiharu had seen the organizers of the test of courage promoting their event on the beach and had signed all of them up without getting their consent, as usual. Harumi rolled her eyes and slid her hands inside the sleeves of her jacket. It was a warm night at the beach, but she couldn't stop the shiver that travelled through her entire body at the thought of this game.

She did not like tests of courage one bit. Strolling through the darkness of the woods with just her flashlight as source of light? Going and entering some haunted cabin on top of the cliff as the dark waves of the ocean crashed against the rocks underneath them?

"No thanks," she muttered and obstinately shook her head. "Sorry guys, I will be sitting this one out."

Amaya nudged her in the ribs. "Don't be such a chicken, Harumi. This will be fun! Besides, we will not be doing this alone, right?"

"We better not!" Harumi grunted fiercely.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around, only to clasp her head in her hands and scream her lungs out when she saw Fuji's face rendered creepy by the yellow light under his chin. She barely recovered with one hand plastered against her chest, and shouted over the laughter of the others: "DON'T YOU DO THAT AGAIN, FUJI SYUSUKE."

Fuji laughed and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Mah, I'm sorry Harumi. Come with us. You have nothing to fear."

She eyed him suspiciously. "How come that doesn't reassure me one bit? Especially after what you just pulled on me!"

Yuriko giggled behind her hand. "Precisely, Harumi-chan. He is creepier than any ghosts you might encounter. I think it will be quite safe with him."

Harumi grunted, not able to deny the truth of those words.

She turned around her eyes met with Eiji's as the redhead approached the group with more flashlights in a box, along with drawn maps of the path across the woods to the cabin on the cliff.

He handed her a copy of the map and she took it without looking at him.

Eiji studied her face for a moment and then moved on to the others.

To be honest, she was still troubled by his words on the yacht. He had played it off as a joke and she had played it off along with him, but there was something in his eyes… a look, a shadow of emotion, that told her his words had not been a joke.

_Don't go. I'm not letting you go._

_What does this mean?_ She asked herself. _And does it even matter? Why should it matter? He was going to say the words that you had been dying to hear, but that was back then. And you are back to Japan now. So it doesn't matter anymore._

Except that it did.

Because now she wondered what she would have done if he had said those words to her back then. Back then, everyone had hugged her and had told her, with tears in their eyes, that she should leave with her family. The only one who had come close to stopping her had been Amaya. The raven-haired girl had looked at her with concern and had enquired softly: "Are you sure? Are you sure this is the best for you?" And Harumi had nodded bravely, because what else could she do?

However, if Eiji had said those words to her…

"I would probably still have left," she murmured to herself. "It was the right thing to do. For my brother."

_I don't care what's the right thing to do. All I know is that I need you here, and here is where you will stay, _his words resounded in her mind, troubling her more than she cared to admit.

"Harumi?"

Her head jerked up and she met Amaya's soft gaze. "H-hai?"

"Are you all right? You have been awfully quiet ever since we came back from the yacht."

Harumi smiled. "Yes, of course. I'm just a bit scared. Do I really have to do this?" she ended her question with a reluctant pout.

A glint came alive in Amaya's eyes. "Yes, you do! Like I said, you will be pairing up with someone! Jiro said we shall decide that by luck just to spice things up a little."

Somehow "spicing things up" and "Jiro" didn't really go together in her mind, but she let it go with an arched eyebrow. She let Amaya drag her to the entrance to the woods, where Chiharu stood like a vigilante with a bottle containing sticks.

"If you pick the same color, you will team up!" she announced with a smirk.

Harumi saw a glint in her green eyes that brought her back to her middle school days when the girls used to do Plan As and Plan Bs. Somehow, she had the impression that this whole thing was rigged already. She let out a loud sigh, but stepped forward to pick her stick from the bottle nonetheless.

It came out with a black band at the bottom.

"Red!" Chiharu yelled. "Who has red?"

Eiji lifted his stick. "Me!"

Chiharu poked her tongue out. "How fitting. The two redheads together!" She bounced towards Eiji and linked his arm with hers. "Well, we better win this thing, nya."

"Hoi, that's my thing!"

Chiharu yanked him after her. "Not anymore, nya! We are a team now, nya. Better get used to it, miaou!"

Harumi couldn't help it; she burst out laughing at the look of pure horror on Eiji's face as Chiharu dragged him away.

She turned towards Fuji. "Which color do you have? Black?"

Fuji examined his under his flashlight. "No, I have purple."

"Oh," she let out in disappointment.

"Oh! I have purple too!" Yuriko exclaimed as she came close. Her ruby eyes gleamed excitedly. "All right! Let's do this, Syusuke!"

Fuji sweatdropped at Harumi's narrowed eyes and smiled at her apologetically before following after Yuriko.

Harumi sighed and turned around in time to see Oishi and Amaya bumping their blue sticks together. "I can face anything if I'm with my darling," she teased him flirtatiously.

Oishi blushed a little, but looked very happy as he guided her into the woods.

Harumi felt a cold chill travel down her spine. Slowly, she pivoted towards Jiro and the black stick in his hand.

_Oh no! Why do I have to be with him? He hates me. I'm sure he does…_

She wanted to cry internally, but instead:

"J-Jiro-kun," she greeted with an uncertain smile.

Jiro studied his stick for a long time, as though he were fascinated with it, before he put it inside the pocket of his shorts. His black eyes rolled down towards her face and then back to the woods. "Let's go," he said monotonously.

Harumi played with a pan of her t-shirt nervously as she hurried up after him.

When they entered the woods, the others had already disappeared. Harumi noticed that she was crumpling the map in her tight grip and forced her hand to relax. She unfolded the map clumsily and cleared her throat as she brought it closer to Jiro's flashlight.

Jiro's eyes immediately shot down towards her hovering body. "What are you doing?"

She looked up at him with a shaky smile. "Just borrowing your light to try and figure out the map."

Jiro glanced at the piece of paper she was holding. "That is useless."

"Is that so?"

"It's just a drawing. I bet it's not even accurate."

She looked around them at the dark trees looming close. All sorts of bugs were chirping in the night, creating a buzzing concerto. Harumi suddenly wanted nothing more than to run back to the beach resort.

When she reported her attention back, she saw that he was already far ahead of her. She bit her lip and ran to catch up to him. She tried to figure out the map for another 30 seconds before giving up. He was right. The map was just a badly drawn bunch of lines and circles that represented nothing.

"If we follow this path, we will be at the cabin soon enough. Is this really a test of courage?"

Harumi sweatdropped. "You must not be scared of a lot of things, Jiro-kun."

Jiro shot her another of his dark looks. "And you seem to be easily scared, Yamazaki-chan."

"Well, I just don't like dark places. I've never have."

"Have you had a bad experience before?"

Harumi looked down at the circle of light illuminating the forest floor up ahead. Outside that circle, everything was gloomy, as though the darkness was alive and was trying to eat away at the light.

She crossed her arms on her chest. "Not really. I've just never liked it. I have quite a vivid imagination and what I can't see, my mind makes up for it, sometimes a bit too well." She let out a nervous giggle. "It is handy when I write my books, but right now, not so much."

To that, Jiro did not reply.

Harumi tried to scan the road ahead, anxious to get to the cabin already. It couldn't be more ominous than walking beside Jiro in the dark forested road.

* * *

><p>Chiharu was whistling happily as she walked up the stairs of the old cabin. They were the first team to reach the hut, and she was ecstatic because of it. The floors creaked eerily under her sandals, but she paid it no heed at all. Eiji, however, was hovering close behind her, looking around frantically at the broken mirror on the wall and the half destroyed desk underneath it.<p>

"Do we really have to go upstairs?" he moaned.

One piercing green eye looked back at him from above her shoulder. "Kikumaru, Kikumaru" she chastised, "aren't you supposed to be the one leading?"

"This place gives me the creeps!" he replied with a pout. "I wouldn't be surprised if it were haunted!"

Chiharu twirled around and put up both hands beside her face like two cat paws. "Nyang! I'm the ghost of the queen of cats!"

Eiji seized her wrist. "Stop it, will you? Stop stealing my nyas!"

Chiharu laughed and Eiji cringed when her laughter echoed somberly along the dusty walls. She sprinted upstairs and took one of the stone squares on the table.

She held it up triumphantly with a hand on her hip. "Look, Kikumaru! We came first! Now let's just take this and go back to the beach. I wonder if they are handling out prizes for first place winners?"

At this, Eiji's face lit up for the first time since they had started the test. "I sure hope so! Let's go back now."

Chiharu smiled and turned to leave. She was sprinting down the stairs, still whistling, when one of the steps suddenly gave way underneath her foot with a crack. Eiji hurried to the staircase when he heard her scream. He peaked down the staircase worriedly and saw her sprawled down at the foot of the stairs, holding her ankle.

"Ita, ita!" she hissed as she rubbed her ankle.

Eiji went down the stairs quickly, but carefully, and knelt down beside her. "Are you okay, Shima-chan?"

"I think I sprained my ankle. Oh great! How unlucky!"

"You shouldn't have been running around so carelessly in this old shack."

"Oh, spare me the educational speech Kikumaru, will you?" she said, all traces of merriness gone from her voice.

She frowned in pain when she tried to get up and bit back a cry. Eiji gave her his arm for support as he helped her up with his other hand. She immediately tried putting weight on her injured ankle, but it gave way underneath her. The redhead caught her again before she could fall. "Moh, stop moving around Shima-chan. You will only make it worse."

He sighed at her stubbornness and then crouched down in front of her with his back to her. "Here, I will carry you back to the beach. You should put some ice on that ankle before it starts swelling up for real."

Chiharu considered him for a moment with her eyes shining very bright in the gloom.

Then, she leaned against his back and passed her arms around his neck. "Take another path to go back. I don't want the others to see me like this. How humiliating, really!"

Eiji was confused as he stood up with her on his back. "What is so humiliating about this? It was an accident."

She looked down. "Just go."

After Eiji left the cabin, he went down the cliff from a different path that the one they had used to come to the cabin, and then they were in the woods once more. For long minutes, only the sound of Eiji's sandals crunching on the grassy twigs of the forest floor could be heard. Chiharu remained silent as she swung her legs a little on either side of him.

"I don't remember the last time I was piggy-backed," she suddenly confessed in a voice that seemed strangely fragile to her own ears.

Eiji smiled. "Are you comfortable, nya?"

Chiharu lost herself in contemplation of the dark trees going past on either side of her as Eiji walked down the slope. The evening was warm, and the back of his shirt was damp with sweat.

A look of guilt crossed her green eyes. "You are a nice guy, Kikumaru."

He laughed. "How should I reply to this? You are nice too, Shima-chan. Sometimes?"

She rested her cheek against his shoulders and a dreamy look entered her eyes. "Neh, Kikumaru. Would you ever date me?"

She felt him stiffen up and almost drop her. He stopped walking and awkwardly tried to look at her from above his shoulder.

"Ha… very funny!"

"I'm serious," she answered.

"Eto…" he stammered.

Chiharu could feel Eiji's brain overworking just from looking at the tension in his neck muscles. A sense of amusement grew within her, mixed with confusion about why she had started this conversation in the first place. She was about to laugh it off as a joke when he said in a serious tone that she rarely heard him use. "Do you like me, Shima-chan?"

She felt her heart thumping harder in spite of herself. "And if I said yes?"

He put her down and twirled around to look at her. Dark blue eyes bore into green ones. There was an intensity on his face that she had never seen before that made her swallow.

His voice was soft and his eyes were sad when he replied: "Shima-chan, we have been friends for a long time and… well…You are a pretty girl. I know any guy will be lucky to date you, but I have too much going on right now, and…

"You don't like me that way," she finished for him.

He blinked at the smile on her lips. Then horror invaded his eyes. "Were you joking?"

She burst out laughing, holding her stomach. Eiji clasped his hands in his hair. "You are terrible!"

Wiping off a tear, Chiharu looked at him. "My oh my, Kikumaru! You never cease to amaze me. Is that how you rejected Mai also? Your bluntness is a weapon!"

Eiji's cheeks turned as red as the roots of his hair.

"I almost feel like leaving you in the woods," he started accusingly and backed away until Chiharu started screaming at him pleadingly as she limped to catch up.

"Fine! But don't do that ever again!"

"Haiiii, gomenasaiiii" she appeased him with an innocent grin.

Finally, Eiji accepted to carry her once more after he deemed she had apologized enough.

When the white sand of the beach came into view from amidst the branches, Chiharu pointed to a dot on the far side. "That's the resort. Not far now."

After another ten minutes, they finally arrived at the resort. Chiharu inserted her key, opened the front door and turned on the lights. Eiji's eyes widened when he saw the shiny floorboards and the glassy walls giving view to the beach and the dark ocean beyond. He let out a low whistle of appreciation.

Chiharu hopped to the fridge and came back with a bag of ice that she deposited on her swollen ankle with a sigh of relief. Eiji went to fetch themselves two glasses of orange juice.

Chiharu sipped some from hers before putting the glass down. She eyed Eiji who was now following with avid interest the dozens of colorful fish swimming back and forth in an aquarium set in the middle of the salon.

"There is only one person you will always have time to date, no matter how crazy your schedule is," she let out all of a sudden.

Eiji looked away from the fish confusedly and met Chiharu's serious glare. "Admit it, Kikumaru. To me, it is as clear as day."

Slowly, the smile waned from his face, replaced by a frown.

"What…"

"Maybe you don't even realize it yourself yet," she interrupted, "or maybe you do, but you are just turning the other way. There is enough awkwardness in our group already, you must be thinking. There is no need to add more."

The confused lines on Eiji's brow slowly morphed into an undecipherable expression. "What are you talking about?"

Chiharu took her time to drink a sip of her orange juice, her green eyes studying him from above the rim of the glass. Finally, she set down her drink, making the ice cubes inside swirl and clank.

"Harumi," she stated. "Ha-ru-mi. You're still in love with her, aren't you?"

Eiji turned away from her stiffly, gripping his own glass hard in his hand. "Absolutely not. Don't be ridiculous. She is just a friend now."

"Mmhmm. Listen, Kikumaru, I don't usually meddle in other people's business… actually, scratch that. It is my job to meddle in other people's business when Naoki is not present, so let me give you some advice. You haven't gotten over her in three years, even when she wasn't here, even after you thought she hated you. And now that she's back in your life, there is no chance, zero, that your feelings will go away. So you should tell her again."

"No!" Eiji hammered with clouds of cold anger in his usually warm dark blue eyes. "No, Shima! Do you hear me? Don't go around spreading that kind of gossip. Harumi made a choice back then and I respected it! It's over!"

"A choice? And what's a choice but a bunch of words? Choices change, Kikumaru. People change also. That choice was three years ago, and this is now."

Eiji shook his head at her. "You are crazy. She is happy with Fujiko now. Even if hypothetically I still had feelings for her, then I would still keep silent about it. Because that would be what's best for her, for Fuji, for everyone, including me! Telling her something like that would destroy the friendship we have worked so hard to rebuild."

"Friendship," Chiharu snorted. "A friendship that's eating you up from the inside. What's so nice about that? Why is it always about her? You should think about yourself too, Kikumaru."

Eiji slammed the juice down on the table. "You don't understand. When you love someone, you can't always think about yourself. Sometimes love is about letting go."

He suddenly flushed a deep scarlet, realizing that he had all but admitted out loud that he was still in love with Harumi.

However, Chiharu seemed not to have noticed. She stood up so violently she sent the bag of ice flying from her ankle. "What a bunch of crap!" she yelled. "Do you think you are the self-sacrificing hero in a novel? This is your life! Loving someone is never about letting go; it's about holding on to the person, no matter what!"

She hovered to the glass door and pressed her palm against it. Eiji could see from the reflection in the glass that she was crying.

"You useless men," she declared in a thick voice. "That's all you know how to say. "I love you, so I'm letting you go." What a bunch of crap!"

She turned wildly towards Eiji. "I loved someone too, you know? I know it doesn't seem like it to you, but it's true. I was prepared to do anything for him. I knew our status was not the same, but I was ready to work for it, whatever it took. If I become a well-known model, would that be enough? Then his mother would have nothing to say, I bet!"

She racked a hand through her hair, letting it fall on her shoulders like fire. "But he betrayed me! He did something unforgivable to me! And then he still said he loved me, that he did it for my own good!"

Eiji blinked. "Are you talking about Atobe?"

Chiharu bit her lip and looked away.

Eiji slowly edged closer and put his hands on her shoulders. "What did he do to you, Shima-chan?"

Chiharu's chin started trembling and suddenly tears overflew from her eyes. "I was pregnant with his child," she found herself confessing in a small, shaky voice. For a second, horror invaded her eyes at the fact that she had spoken those words out loud, but then more words were soon tumbling out of her mouth: "I thought for sure then he would convince his mother to let us marry, but he…"

She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. "He forced me to get an abortion. He said: "if you love this child, let him go. What will his life be like to be born to a single mother who is still in university? Let him go." I don't know why I listened to him. I've regretted it ever since. I don't… I don't know why I even told you this. I haven't told anyone yet… I…"

She shook her head as she suppressed another sob, then pushed open the door and rushed outside, limping.

Eiji stood there for a moment in shock, before rushing out of the resort, yelling her name. However, the beach to both sides of him was empty.

Chiharu was gone.

* * *

><p>Harumi picked up the last stone from the table in the second floor of the cabin and looked around wearily when a guff of wind made the walls squeak and crack.<p>

"It looks like we are the last ones," she commented upon noticing that no more stones remained on the table.

Jiro looked disinterested as he directed his flashlight around the dusty room instead.

"What are you doing?" she enquired uncertainly from behind him.

Jiro handed her the flashlight and stretched out the thumb and index on both of his hands, touching his finger tips together to form a rectangle in front of his eyes, through which he slowly looked at everything inside the room. Harumi peered over his shoulder and saw that he had centered his hands on a broken mantelpiece on the opposite wall.

"Ano… do you want to take a picture of that?" she asked.

"I don't have my camera with me. I will frame it like this in my mind so that I remember to come back later to look for it."

Harumi inspected the mantelpiece and found it pretty creepy and not photo-worthy, but she didn't say so. Instead, she passed her orange camera from over her head and handed it out to him. "You can use this for now, if you want."

Jiro looked at it, his face expressionless. Just when Harumi thought he would not accept, he took it from her hands and turned it on.

The young girl stood back, shuffling awkwardly on her feet, as white light from her camera flashed inside the dark room when Jiro set to work.

_These people into photography sure find beauty in the strangest things._

"How did you get to know Syusuke, Jiro-kun?"

Without stopping his camera-work, Jiro replied briefly: "I met him when I joined the photography club in high school that Yuriko-chan started."

"You and Yuriko-chan, you seem to know each other pretty well."

Flash. "Yes. We have been friends since we were young. And you and Fuji, how did you two meet?"

Harumi blinked. It was the first time that Jiro had shown enough interest to ask her a question. "Me? I met him when I transferred to Seigaku middle school." A small smile played on her lips at the memory. "It seems like ages ago now."

"Hmmm," Jiro simply said.

Another flash.

Then, he turned his unsettling black eyes towards her. She sustained his gaze but played with her hands nervously under his scrutiny. "Neh, why do you always look at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I just have the impression that you are angry with me for some reason."

His ponytail swung a little when he suddenly walked up to her. Harumi's eyes widened and she backed away until her back touched a chair. Jiro was looming over her now, and suddenly she was scared.

Jiro leaned in close, his black eyes seeming to be all-encompassing. "People say that about me a lot," he mumbled as he simply dropped the camera back into her limp hands. "Come on, let's get going now."

For some reason, she couldn't believe him.

"Wait," she heard herself whispering. "Is that really it? If there is something I have done to offend you, I want you to tell me. You are good friends with Syusuke, aren't you? In that case, I wish we can get along too."

He slowly turned towards her and studied the determined look in her purple eyes.

"You are different," he mumbled.

"What?"

Jiro shrugged. "You are different from the way Syusuke-kun described you to be."

Her heart started pounding at this. "He talked about me? What did he say?"

_Oh God! That Syusuke! I hope he doesn't go around telling everyone all the clumsy things I do!_

Jiro's voice was calm when he replied: "That you are a weak girl. That he needs to protect you and treat you like you are made of glass."

Harumi's heart stopped altogether as her smile waned from her face. She clenched the stone hard enough to leave a mark in her palm. Her wide eyes clung to those, expressionless, of Jiro.

"He would never say that about me. Why are you lying?"

"I am not."

"He would never say that about me to you!" she yelled.

"Not to me," Jiro replied calmly. "He told that to Yuriko-chan. I just happened to overhear it."

"That's even more ridiculous! I don't believe you!" she threw at him, her purple eyes brimming with challenge. "I don't know why you are saying these things to me, but I think we need to part ways now. Good night."

She forced her stiff legs to carry her towards the door. She tripped a little on a dusty object on the ground but continued on her way.

"Why would I lie?" Jiro's monotonous voice drifted to her from behind.

She shut her eyes.

_Shut up! Shut up!_

"Do you remember how you lost your mind when your parents passed away? That must have been quite traumatizing for Fuji as well, to have his girlfriend not even recognize him for a time."

A deep tremor started in her hands, enveloped her elbows and soon took hold of her entire being.

"H-how do you know that? He talked… about that t-to you?"

"Not to me," Jiro repeated in that monotonous and dead voice of his that she was now coming to hate, "he was talking to Yuriko-chan."

Harumi threw open the door of the cabin and ran away from Jiro, from the words he had uttered, from everything that they entailed.

_It can't be. He must be lying. That episode… Fuji would never talk about that with anyone. I mean… we haven't even had time to sit down and talk about it between the two of us, so it's impossible that he's told someone else in a place where anyone can just overhear. It's just… not possible…_

She ran downhill across the woods, tripping over grass and roots, almost falling face-first down to the earth numerous times but always managing to catch herself at the last minute. The run seemed to last for an indeterminate amount of time until the white sand of the beach shone in front of her eyes. The half-moon on the night sky cast a cold light down onto the dark ocean waves.

She fumbled through her pockets, but she had left her cellphone back in her bag and her bag back in the resort. And the resort was nowhere in sight; the stretch of beach to either side of her was deserted. Looking back, she could see the faraway silhouette of the cabin looming over the cliff she had just climbed down.

"Calm down," she muttered to herself as she tried to stop the shaking in her hands. "You are not that weak girl anymore. Stop that. Fuji would never do that to you, you know it."

But if it wasn't Fuji, who else could have told Jiro about that episode? None of her friends would ever betray her in that manner.

"You don't know that," she spoke madly to herself. "Look at Oishi; he betrayed Eiji, didn't he? People are capable of such things, even nice people."

Suddenly, she needed to see Fuji, to speak to him. She needed to feel his arms around her as he gave her a reason for all of this that made sense.

"Harumi?"

She startled and jerked around, hugging herself so tight she dug her nails into her flesh from across the tissue of the jacket she wore.

Eiji was standing in front of her with his hands to his knees, panting slightly. The white moonlight highlighted the beads of sweat on his brow.

"Harumi," the redhead panted, trying to draw breath, "what are you doing here? Have you seen Shima?"

She struggled to force herself to relax the tight grip on her arm. Hoping her voice wasn't shaking, she answered: "Chiharu? No. Is something wrong?"

However, Eiji simply looked at her and did not reply. When he straightened up, she saw that his cheeks were flushed red as he studied her. Harumi suddenly felt naked under his gaze, feeling like he could see right through her. For a second, she was scared that he had guessed at what had transpired between her and Jiro. However, Eiji abruptly looked away and turned his back to her, still panting slightly.

"Eiji?"

"What?" he asked without looking at her.

Harumi blinked once at his suddenly strange behaviour. "Um… you said you were looking for Chiharu?"

There was a silence, and then he finally said: "Yes. She has our stone. Without it, we can't claim our winning prize."

It took her a moment to realize he was talking about the test of courage.

"I see."

"Where is Jiro-kun?" Eiji enquired as he turned around and scanned the deserted span of beach behind her.

Harumi looked away. "We got separated. And then I got lost."

"H-how typical of you. Aren't you lucky that I happened to pass by? Come on, let's go back to the resort."

_The resort. Would Fuji be at the resort?_

Suddenly, she was scared. What if Jiro had told the truth?

Eiji paused when he realized that she was not following him. For the first time, he noticed the paleness of her cheeks and the thin sheet of transpiration on her forehead.

"Harumi, are you all right?"

She smiled at him. "Why wouldn't I be? Lead the way, Eiji."

* * *

><p>Fuji was already back at the resort with Yuriko. They had won the first prize, which was a colorful kite.<p>

"Let's fly it tomorrow," the ruby-eyed girl was saying as she took it out of its plastic envelope. "It's supposed to be windy on the beach tomorrow."

Fuji was sprawled down on the couch, his eyes following a yellow fish swimming around inside the aquarium. "Where do you think everyone else is? It is getting quite late."

Yuriko sat down quietly beside him. "Are you worried about Harumi-chan? Daijoubu, she is in good hands with Jiro."

Fuji turned two piercing blue eyes at her. "Why did you send me that picture, Yuriko?"

She blinked. "What picture?"

Fuji opened his phone, clicked on the pictures icon and showed her the picture of Eiji and Harumi walking and conversing side by side on a busy sidewalk.

Yuriko pieced a short strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Oh, that one!" She shrugged. "I thought you would want to know. I know how you feel about them hanging out together."

"They are just friends."

She smiled. "Friends? I have no doubt. But they are also each other's ex, aren't they? How many people do you see hanging out together like this after they have broken up? I find it quite fascinating that they have managed to draw such a clear line without it affecting their friendship at all."

Fuji was about to say something when she lifted a palm to stop him. "Let us suppose you break up with Harumi-chan tomorrow. Will you be able to look at her in the eyes, let alone joke around?"

Fuji's traits fell a little.

Yuriko nodded at his silence. "I wouldn't be able to either. That's why I find them so fascinating. I didn't mean to upset you by sending that picture, Syusuke."

Fuji stared at the picture in his phone again. If he was honest with himself, he was not upset at Yuriko for sending it. No, it was the picture itself that was upsetting. He pressed on the garbage can icon and deleted it.

At that moment, the glassy doors shifted open and in came Harumi. Fuji started smiling at her, but stopped when he saw Eiji sauntering inside behind her.

The redhead's eyes widened when he saw the kite sprawled across Yuriko's lap.

"Oh! You guys won it? Ey…" he was clearly disappointed. Chiharu and he had come so close!

Harumi's eyes glided from Fuji to Yuriko and then back to the tensai. "I need to talk to you," she simply said. "Come out on the veranda."

She turned around and stepped out again.

Fuji exchanged a look with Eiji, who simply shrugged and looked after Harumi with a frown. Fuji rose from the couch and followed her outside.

The evening breeze was as warm as ever as they walked on the beach. The night tide rushed towards their feet and then retreated again, leaving a trail of shells and seaweed in the sand. In normal circumstances, Harumi would have been delighted at the sight of them. She would have picked up the nicest ones to bring back to Tokyo as souvenirs of this beautiful trip to the beach. Except that this trip had been anything but beautiful; and she was not even seeing the seashells being washed up to her feet.

"What's wrong, Harumi?" Fuji's voice resonated behind her.

When she turned around, the cold light of the moon was reflected in her purple eyes.

"You told Yuriko about what happened to me when my parents died?"

Fuji's eyes slowly widened in horror. "How did you…"

"So it's true," she cut him off coldly.

Fuji grabbed her hand. "Harumi, please, listen to me. I did not mean to. I had one drink too many that night and I missed you. When the topic of you came up and Yuriko asked why you had to leave, I ended up telling her in spite of my better judgment."

She yanked her arm out of his grip. "I see. So you were close enough to her to get drunk together and talk about such matters in the night?"

He did not reply.

"Even though you know she likes you?" she asked again. Her voice was low, but her eyes were cold with anger.

"Harumi…"

"Is that all you said to her? Is there anything else that I should learn from you before I learn it from someone else?"

Fuji looked down for a second, and Harumi's heart sank. "Is there anything else?" she hammered, emphasizing each word.

"No," Fuji replied steadily. "I know I should not have talked about such personal things, Harumi. I am truly sorry!"

Her lower lip trembled a bit, but then she steadied it. "Do you know that Jiro-kun also knows? He was the one who told me. I don't know what else you've said to Yuriko, or how you've said it, but I am _not _a weak girl anymore, Fuji."

She turned around to leave.

"Harumi, I never said that you were weak!"

"Maybe not. But you must have thought it because that's how I came across in your description of me. I don't blame you, Fuji. You were always the one rescuing me three years ago, that is the truth. But do you know how degrading it is to hear that from a stranger's mouth?"

Before she could make another step, Fuji held on to her arm. "Please, hear me out. It is not what you think! I will tell you everything."

"I'm sorry," she replied without looking at him. "I don't want to hear any more excuses tonight. I need to think some things over. Let go."

But Fuji just yanked her arm violently until she was facing him. "I said, listen to me!"

Harumi was abashed by his rough grip on her arm, by the painful grip of his fingers on her flesh.

_This is not the Fuji that I know. He has always been gentle to me. Why is he like this? _

"You were not supposed to find out this way!" he started. "I told Yuriko to keep it a secret, to pretend I had never said such things, but I had no idea Jiro had overheard us!"

Harumi clenched her teeth. "This is your excuse? That I was never supposed to even find out about this? Just because you keep it a secret doesn't mean that it never happened!"

"Yes! I admit that I never wanted you to find out!" Fuji exploded. "Because what good would it be? Look at you now! Some things are better kept unspoken! It was a mistake! That's all it was! Telling you would only serve to make you angry unnecessarily and hurt you!"

She yanked her arm free of him with all her strength, making him fall back one step.

"Do you really you're being considerate when you hide things from me?" she shouted with barely suppressed tears. "We are supposed to tell everything to each other, no matter how bad they might be! You're always, always keeping things from me! You say it's for my own good, but I can't believe that, Fuji. Not when I'm feeling this way!"

At this, Fuji looked away, speechless and troubled.

From behind him, Harumi could suddenly see Eiji and Yuriko standing there in the sand within hearing distance. Amaya and Oishi were there too, and Amaya had her hands clasped over her mouth. Suddenly the sight of their friends witnessing their fight was embarrassing and painful.

"Forget it," she muttered and sprinted away in the sand.

She heard him calling out her name, but she didn't turn around.

She didn't know for how long she ran and didn't care. Her mind was blank and the only thing she could feel was the roughness of the sand inside her sandals. Finally, when she was so breathless she thought she would faint, she finally allowed herself to stop. She lied down on her back in the sand and panted as she looked up at the stars shining overhead. A wave came rushing in, timidly licking at her finger tips before retreating.

She didn't know from where she should start thinking about everything that had happened. She felt like she and Fuji were drifting further and further apart. She almost couldn't even recognize him now; he was not how he was three years ago. Or was he? She suddenly realized she didn't really know the real him. What his thoughts were, what his dreams were, what he wanted out of life, she had never had a chance to find out. Just who had she falling in love with?

"DAMN IT!" she screamed as she punched at the sand beside her.

"What are you so worked up for?" a voice resounded so close to her that she jerked up into a sitting position so fast that she lost her sandals.

Chiharu was sitting beside her with her knees to her chest. She threw her fiery hair over one shoulder and stared at Harumi through red eyes.

Harumi slowly crawled to where she was. "C-Chiharu? When did you get here? Wait… is everything okay?"

The redhead let out a small, humorless laugh. "Everything is certainly not okay. Not for me, and not for you either from what I see."

At this, Harumi sat down beside her and stretched her legs out in front of her, feeling depressed. "Everything is so messed up…"

"Did something happen with Fuji?"

Harumi sighed. To be honest, Chiharu was the last person she had wanted to encounter. She was always so perceptive; it was impossible to hide anything from her.

"We had another fight," she admitted. "This one was pretty bad. I don't know what to do anymore, Chiharu."

She bent her knees and pressed her eyes against her forearms.

Chiharu let out another humorless laugh. "I won't ask you for the details, Haru. It looks like you don't need to go there again tonight. Don't you think it's funny though?"

Harumi frowned against her arm. She couldn't see anything funny about any of it.

"We came here to mend two broken hearts," the redhead continued, "but we ended up with four more."

Harumi lifted her head to peer at the sad profile of her friend. "Four?" she asked. "Who are the other two? You?"

"Bingo," she agreed. "Although mine has been broken for a pretty long time. I just squeezed the pus tonight though. Finally talked to someone and all."

_Is this about what really happened with Atobe?_

However, she had never seen Chiharu look so defeated, and so she didn't inquire further out of respect. After all, Chiharu had shown tact for the first time for not probing into her problems with Fuji.

"So who's the last one?" she murmured against her crossed arms.

Somehow, in spite of the sadness she felt, she was still curious. Such was the power of gossip sometimes.

Chiharu remained silent. Harumi threw her a quick glance and saw the redhead staring pensively into the night waves.

_Is she not going to tell me? It would be much like her to keep the suspense. Who could it be though? Amaya and Oishi are good now. Chiharu, Fuji and I are accounted for. There's only Yuriko, Jiro and Eiji left. I seriously doubt Jiro is into anyone, and Yuriko? Is she still pining after Fuji or something?_

She found herself getting angry and sad all over again. Just why had Fuji done such a thing to her?

Chiharu claimed her attention with one hand on her arm. Harumi looked up and met her green eyes rimmed with red. Chiharu opened her mouth and said: "It's Kikumaru."

Harumi blinked. "Eh…?"

_Eiji? Why would Eiji…? Does he like Mai after all? No… that can't be. Then…_

For some reason, her heart started pounding… slowly at first, and then faster and louder.

"Kikumaru," Chiharu repeated, and then looked up. "He's here."

Harumi stared at her incomprehensibly, until she heard footsteps in the sand coming towards them. She turned her head in time to see Eiji skidding to a halt beside them, breathing hard.

Harumi forcefully forced her heart rate to go back to normal by pressing a hand against her chest. It wasn't at all what she had thought, of course.

"I finally found you," Eiji let out between two breaths as he wiped as his forehead with the back of his hand. "You run fast, Harumi, moh!"

Slowly, the honey-haired girl stood up. She watched as rivulets of sweat ran down the base of his neck, soaking into his white t-shirt. He must have run around quite a lot, looking for her.

She looked down guiltily. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worried. You and all the others. I'm really sorry."

"No need to be sorry." His eyes dimmed in anger for a second before his gaze settled on Chiharu. "Oh, Shima-chan! There you are too! Good thing I found you both!"

Chiharu let out a heavy sigh and stood up. "Indeed you have. And there goes our peace."

Harumi's eyes widened when she saw her limping. "Chiharu! What happened to your ankle?"

"Nothing," she said, at the same time as Eiji blurted: "Oh, she fell down the stairs in the hut during the test of…"

He pressed his lips tightly close when Chiharu sent him a death glare. He clasped his hands together and bowed to her. "Sorry, Shima. I forgot it was supposed to be a secret."

"Ugh!" Chiharu exclaimed as she angrily rearranged strands of her hair. "Forget it! I'm at fault here for upholding unrealistic expectations! I should have known you are unable to keep a secret!"

Eiji pouted in misery. "I already said that I'm sorry, nya."

They both turned towards Harumi when she let out a small giggle with a hand to her mouth. Eiji's eyes widened as he pointed at her. "Oh! You laughed! That's good, Harumi. Don't let that bastard get you down! Uh.. I mean… Fujiko is a nice person, but sometimes I really can't understand him… eto…"

He scratched his head as Harumi literally burst out laughing.

She laughed until tears flowed down her cheeks. She didn't know herself whether she ended up laughing or crying, but after she was done and finally managed to calm down, that stuffy feeling of anger and betrayal had lifted somewhat from her chest.

"Are you done?" Chiharu asked in exasperation. "Can we go back now? I need to ice my ankle again. It's gotten pretty swollen."

"Hai, hai!" Harumi answered as she wiped the last few tears dry.

Chiharu passed one arm around Harumi's shoulders and the other around Eiji's as the three of them started walking back towards the resort.

Not even halfway there, Harumi was already sweating abundantly. Chiharu's arm around her neck seemed to weigh like lead. Looking down, she saw that Chiharu's good ankle was barely touching ground. "Hey! You're making us carry all your weight!"

Chiharu looked back innocently. "Don't know whatcha talking about."

Harumi directed an impatient glance towards Eiji. "Oy, you say something too."

Eiji sweatdropped. "I know it will be useless. Trust me, I've learned it the hard way."

Harumi mumbled something like "oh, great", but could do nothing more than to walk on. Somehow, in spite of the high levels of princess syndrome that Chiharu was displaying at the moment, she was still glad that she had encountered her and Eiji tonight. She would have ended up crying her eyes out for sure if she had been left all by herself. She chanced a look at Chiharu's red eyes and only wished she had found her friend sooner. Then, she abruptly remembered that Eiji had been looking for Chiharu as well when he had come across her on the beach. And she also remembered Chiharu mentioning that she had talked to someone about Atobe. Could that someone be Eiji?

_If so, then he can keep a secret after all! _

When the resort came into view, Chiharu yanked them both to a stop. "Alright, you two! If anyone asks how I injured my ankle, you tell them I was practicing a new secret tennis move on the beach and slipped!"

"Ehhh?" Harumi grunted. "Who would even believe that?"

"Silence!" Chiharu stopped further complaints with one palm raised. "Shall I remind you that this resort belongs to me? If you don't want to end up sleeping on the beach, you will do as I say!"

"Hai… hai…" Harumi agreed without spirit.

Chiharu turned fiercely towards the redhead. "Especially you, Kikumaru! Bring your A game in acting, got it?"

"Moh," Eiji let out petulantly. "It was just a slip! It won't happen again."

"It isn't so bad," Harumi said. She leaned forward a little and met Eiji's gaze. Smiling, she continued: "It isn't so bad, not being able to keep little secrets. There are secrets that hurt, and others that are kept out of respecting someone's privacy. As long as you keep the important ones, it's not so bad to slip once in a while. At least that's what I think."

Eiji stared back at her, slightly stunned. She gave him a little wink to let him know that she had guessed about what Chiharu had told him.

When the three of them resumed walking, Eiji removed his hand on Chiharu's shoulder and briefly patted Harumi's arm. "Don't let what happened with Fuji get you down," that touch seemed to say.

Harumi took comfort in that gesture as they stepped into the rectangle of light coming from the porch of the resort and Chiharu pushed open the door.

* * *

><p>Mmmmm, yes... how long has it been? I think the last chapter was posted in July! Oh crap, I feel so bad, ugh :( I'm really sorry for having kept you all waiting! I'm sure that alters the reading experience for sure! To be honest, I wanted to build a bit more writing material before I start posting, so as to make the updates closer to one another, but alas I can no longer work that way. There's just way too many things going on at the same time. Of course, I'll try my best to write fast, but I can't make any promises as to the length of time it will take me. All I can say is THANK YOU for your patience! And your words of encouragement are great, as always! Please, do keep them coming. If you are still reading this story, then let me know, and I won't give up writing for sure!<p>

Not sure how many of you will still be reading you, and not sure how many of you will actually get to see these replies, but I still wanna say a few words to each of you personally for having left me such wonderful reviews :) Here goes:

**lazyyy:** hey! yeah, someone really knows how to connect the dots eh? ;) yes, there's a link between Yuriko and what Fuji said. But this is only the beginning. Thanksss for reading! :D

**tsuki-shinigami**: awww omg, thanks so much! Sooo soo sorry the update actually took so long! But here it is! Yeah, I see there are many Eiji/Harumi fans lately! Well, honestly you guys will not be left hanging, I promise you that *wink*

**Kurosora:** thanks so much for your continuous support! :D If you are still reading, care to use your predictive instincts again to try and guess at what will happen next? :) Can't say I will answer tho so as not to spoil the fun when you actually read it, but it will always be fun to guess a little eh? Thanks again and have a great day! :D

**Shingamigirl:** woahhh thanks lol! I'm sure my writing skills are not best out there, but I always try hard to work on them! As long as you keep writing, you can only keep getting better, right? :D Ya I hear ya, you Harumi/ Eiji fan! :) You're not alone loll. Thanks for all the love! Love you right back for giving me such support!

**surugasasa:** haha yeah, I have a tendency to write about psycho females. But those girls have a human side to them too, you shall see :)

**lupinlovesme:** yeah, thanks for picking that up! I always love it when my readers also help me edit to make my writing better! I will go back and edit it very soon, after I upload this! Thanks for the love!

**LivelyRose:** Thank you for the comment! Yeah, I know, Yuriko seemed in need of a spanking in those earlier chapters I'm sure lol. But there will be more to her character. Yes... Eiji might or might not find someone. We shall see... I don't know... Actually I do, but it's a secret! :P

**Cahartez:** thank you so much, I gotta say your review really pushed me to write this chapter. I had the draft lying around in the depths of my computer anyway, so thank you so much for the extra push cuz I needed that so badly. And I love your suggestion on long paragraphs.. yes, they do tend to be tedious to read, so I will try to make them shorter in the future for an easier reading experience. Well, my friend, whether it's Fuji or Eiji, read on to find out! I very much like Eiji's character, yes I will admit that. He's just so cool and laid-back.. he's a fun character to write :)

OK ONCE MORE A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU! :)

Ja ne!


	13. Make-Over

**Make-Over**

Harumi was walking along vaguely familiar hallways. She passed by a framed picture on the wall. The caption below it read: "Seigaku is number one at the Nationals!" The picture showed the Seigaku tennis regulars in their white and blue jerseys with their arms around each other.

They were all smiling, even the usually taciturn Kaidoh. Tezuka stood in the middle with a knowing smile on his lips as he carried the trophy above his head. Fuji was standing beside him, looking at the photographer with his usual peaceful smile. Eiji was on Tezuka's other side. He was caught hopping in mid-air trying to touch the trophy with one hand as he took support on Oishi's shoulder with the other.

On the far right of the photograph, Momo was giving the thumbs up as he pressed down on Echizen's cap. On the far left side, Taka-san had both hands in the air, and next to him stood Kaidoh.

Harumi couldn't stop smiling widely as she looked at each and every one of them. She was proud of all of them and wished she could have been there to cheer for them along with her friends from the women's tennis club.

Now, they were all walking along different paths; some going to university, others pursuing a professional tennis career and yet others like Taka-san starting their own business.

And yet, looking at this picture, she got the feeling that they would be in each other's lives forever.

Except for Eiji and Fuji. Her eyes saddened as she took in their smiles in the picture. Was it still possible to go back to that time?

"To what time?" a voice behind her asked.

"Eh?" she turned around and was shocked to see another her standing there in the empty hallway.

She stepped back until her shoulder collided against the frame of the picture, which trembled and then crashed to the floor. The glass covering the frame shattered, sending little shards of glass flying everywhere.

"To what time?" the other her repeated with serious purple eyes.

"W-what do you mean? Who are you?"

The other Harumi stepped in close all of a sudden, causing Harumi to cry out and lift her arms in front of her face in a protective posture. "Stop it! What do you want?"

"I want you to answer the question. To what time do you want to go back to?"

The other her took her hand and inserted two pictures in her sweaty palms.

Harumi looked up, but the hallway was empty once more. Slowly, she stared down at the pictures in her hands. Before she could see what was on them, voices drifted to her ears from one of the rooms giving into the hallway.

Slowly, she started walking towards them, her shoes clapping loudly against the linoleum. One of the classroom doors was slightly ajar and the voices were drifting out from there.

"It was a bad time," one of the voices said.

Harumi froze when she recognized Fuji's voice. "Fuji?" she called out timidly.

She peeked through the door and saw Fuji sitting at a desk near the window. Sitting on his desk was Yuriko. She had her legs crossed; her blonde hair was long instead of short and was pulled into a ponytail by a red ribbon.

"But it doesn't need to be bad anymore," she was saying.

Harumi felt her heart constricting. For some reason, she did not want to see this.

"It has to be a secret," Fuji said.

One of Yuriko's eyes glided to Harumi, causing her to freeze. Yuriko smiled and leaned forward towards Fuji. "I will keep your secrets well, Syusuke. Trust me."

Under Harumi's shocked eyes, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his.

"Stop it!" Harumi wanted to scream, but found that she had no voice.

The hallway was narrowing down on either side of her and shadows fell in from the windows, darkening everything.

"Harumi!"

"Stop it… Stop it… Don't…"

"Hey, Harumi!"

Slowly, she opened her eyes and Amaya's face swam into her field of vision. Her friend was shaking her by the arm. Harumi jerked up straight and jammed her head into the roof of the car. "Itaaaa!"

Amaya giggled. "Baka! We are here. Wake up!"

Harumi looked around, disoriented. She was at the backseat of the car and must have fallen asleep on the way back from the beach. On the other side of the car, Chiharu was already getting off as she hopped on one foot.

Amaya killed the motor and stepped out as well to stretch. Harumi yawned and pushed the car door open, breathing in a big sigh of relief that it was just a dream.

Still, what a horrible dream that was. Why did she have it? Did her mind truly believe, at some unconscious level, that something like that had happened between Fuji and Yuriko while she wasn't here?

"No way, no way!" she told herself as she waved a hand in the air.

Chiharu was waving goodbye to them now, limping away with her bags in one hand.

"Wait!" Amaya shouted at her. "I will drive you back to your place."

"Nah, I will be all alright," Chiharu replied. "I only live two blocks away anyway."

"Moh, stop being stubborn! How do you expect to carry your bags in your condition?"

Harumi sweatdropped as Amaya literally seized Chiharu by the ear like a recalcitrant child and pulled her back to the car. They took off in a cloud of smoke.

Harumi sighed and passed her own bag over her shoulder, getting ready to go back into Amaya's residence. She was fumbling for her keys when a shadow detached itself from the wall of the house and advanced into the light.

Slowly, she lowered her bag to the ground. "Fuji," she greeted with a neutral expression on her face.

"We need to talk," he said quietly.

Harumi eyed the keys in her hand for one second. She had been so close to stepping into the comfort of Amaya's house… just a few more seconds and she could have been away from all this. She needed a hot bath. She didn't need this.

"Not now, Fuji," she started.

"Please," Fuji said beside her and handed her a piece of paper.

She saw that it was the apology rain check she had written him in the car before they came back from the mountains.

"My wish is for you to listen to me, Harumi. Please," he said again as he looked at her through earnest blue eyes.

She let out a barely audible sigh and felt her heart softening. "Where do you want to go?"

* * *

><p>Eiji was walking to his tennis practice with Kirihara when he heard his name being called out. He twirled around and saw Naoki and Kaidoh approaching. Naoki had her blonde hair braided under a straw hat and she held a fruits basket in one arm. Kaidoh was trailing behind her with his hands in his pockets and his usual scowl in place.<p>

"Hey guys!" Eiji greeted them cheerfully. "What are you up to?"

"We're going to visit Chiharu at the hospital. She's having an x-ray taken, and she texted me a billion times already because she's bored."

"Is her ankle going to be okay?" the redhead inquired worriedly as he fell in stride with them.

Naoki shrugged. "I think it's just a sprain, but you can never be too careful."

"Pssh," Kaidoh hissed annoyingly. "Why do I have to tag along?"

Naoki shot him a warning stare. "Our friend is injured. The least you can do is to pay her a visit."

Kaidoh rolled his eyes. "She's not even hospitalized. You just brought me along because you don't want to be stuck with her alone when she's in a foul mood."

Naoki ignored him brilliantly. "So, Kikumaru, you should come too."

Eiji quickly flashed her his sports bag. "I have tennis practice."

Naoki arched an eyebrow. "By yourself? None of the others are practicing today."

The redhead shrugged. "Yeah, sometimes I hit balls by myself."

Naoki seized his arm. "Not today, you're not! You're coming with us too. Technically, it's your fault that Chiharu is injured. I heard you were with her when it happened."

Eiji encountered Kaidoh's resigned look from above Naoki's head and let out a deep sigh. "Alright, moh! Can I at least have an apple from that basket?"

Naoki thought about it, then flashed him a grin. "Maybe."

As they neared the hospital, a tall edifice of eight floors, Eiji furtively took out his phone and texted Kirihara that he'd be late.

The double doors glided open quietly and the three of them walked in. Naoki looked around at the signs on the walls until she spotted the x-rays department, and pointed to a hallway on their left. "Over here!"

Kaidoh sniffed disgustingly. "I hate hospitals," he said.

Eiji nodded in agreement. They passed by a nurses' office and he paled upon seeing the stacked pile of needles inside the glass cabinet. Shaking off a shiver, he quickly followed after the other two.

They reached the waiting area for x-rays and saw Chiharu slumped on a chair near the bathroom with a lollipop in her mouth and her injured foot propped up on the chair's armrest. Her green eyes brightened when she saw who was coming. "Naoki! You brought Kaidoh and Kikumaru! I'm so touched, guys. Come sit!"

Naoki sat down on the chair next to hers as Chiharu started complaining about the waiting time. Kaidoh rolled his eyes again as he propped down on the seat next to Naoki's with his arms extended over the backseats.

"What did she say to make you come along?" Eiji whispered.

Kaidoh frowned as he looked over at Naoki, and for just a moment, his irritation was replaced with tender resignation. But the moment passed in a second. "I don't even know," he grumbled. "She's an annoying woman who always gets her way."

Eiji scratched his head without understanding. He thought Kaidoh could very well have refused her coldly if he really wanted to. "I'll go get us some drinks then."

Chiharu looked over from her conversation with Naoki. "Ponta for me please, Kikumaru."

Eiji smiled. "Hai, hai!"

He sprinted cheerfully along the hallways and apologized when a doctor yelled at him that running in the hospital was prohibited. Finally, he reached a vending machine and rummaged in his pockets for change.

"Dammit, Jiro. I said that I've got this under control, okay?"

Eiji thought he recognized the voice. It was coming from a turn in an adjacent hallway.

"Really?" Jiro's monotonous voice replied. "You're taking too long. Father is not going to last until September."

"Yes he will," she hissed. "Father's always held on for three freaking years. He'll hold on for another two months."

"The doctor just said that his kidneys have stopped functioning. I'm telling you that he won't last!"

There was a pause. Eiji stood very quietly in front of the vending machine, his hand holding the change hovering beside the opening slit of the machine.

"So what if he dies?" Yuriko finally said. "Let's be honest, Jiro. We both know he's never going to wake up, but that doesn't change anything to what we have to do!"

"No!" Jiro's voice was full of fury. "How can you say this? It's only meaningful if Dad is still alive. They need to see him, to know what they did to him!"

Yuriko let out a small cry and Eiji started walking in direction of the hallway, fearing that Jiro was hurting her.

"Just move up the schedule," Jiro said. "You don't need them both to be in university."

"Let me go, you bastard! And yes, I do need them to be in university! That's when I will see them most often! You don't know a thing of what I plan to do, so just… trust me, okay?"

Eiji stopped again in his tracks and frowned. He didn't understand anything about this conversation, but there was a feeling of unease in his chest. Somehow, he didn't think this had been meant to be overheard by anyone.

Suddenly, he heard their footsteps coming his way and he looked around in a panic.

A second later, Yuriko and Jiro appeared at the turn of the hallway. Her eyes were red from crying, and Jiro was clearly pissed off. They disappeared down the corridor without exchanging more words.

Slowly, Eiji crept out from the crack between the vending machine and the wall. He looked after them for a moment and then turned onto the hallway from where they came from. There was only one room at the end of the hall. The sign on the wall said this was the long term care unit.

The last name on the room was one that Eiji didn't recognize. He furtively looked on either side of him as his hand hovered over the door handle.

But then, he looked appalled at what he was going to do. "Eiji, this is not right. Not right at all," he muttered to himself.

But his curiosity trumped over his guilt. He nervously and quietly glided the door open. Immediately, the constant beep of a machine reached his ears. He swallowed and then shuffled forward until he made out the man lying on the bed. He was thin, almost scrawny, and his hair was long and flowing down his shoulders. There was a breathing mask over his mouth and several transparent tubes were hooked into his arm.

He started retreating, now very ill at ease.

So this was Yuriko's father? Or was it Jiro's?

Eiji suddenly frowned. Why did both of them call him Dad?

* * *

><p>Harumi found herself sitting at the café she used to go to with Fuji. The inside hadn't changed much. There was still a bar near the entrance, with several circular tables near the window. Harumi remembered exactly which table they had sat at on that fateful when they had decided to start their relationship.<p>

She waited until Fuji came back with two strawberry smoothies. She sipped at hers silently, relishing the coldness of the ice. Fuji's smoothie stayed in front of him, untouched.

After a few seconds of peaceful silence, Fuji slowly looked up at her and reached out across the table to hold her hand. Harumi looked up from her drink.

"Thanks for coming with me, Harumi."

She smiled from the corner of her mouth. "I had to. You used the apology raincheck."

Fuji's eyes were blue and serious when he continued. "I want you to know that I truly thought about your words the other night on the beach, and I know that you are right. Just because I know you'd be upset with something doesn't mean I should keep it to myself. That's the easy way out, and it's wrong."

"I just…" Harumi started, and then shook her head. "I just have trouble understanding why you'd tell such personal things about me to anyone other than our close friends!"

"But they are close friends of mine now, Harumi." He studied her intently. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's true. Yuriko and Jiro have become people that I can rely on, perhaps in the same way as I would rely on Tezuka or Momo or any of our other friends. I know they are still strangers to you, but they are good people when you get to know them."

Harumi slipped her hand out of his grasp. "Well… yeah, I'm not saying they aren't. But still, some things are personal… And I'd consider this to be one of them. I mean…" she bit her lip. "It was hard for me, Fuji. Really hard. And scary too. I mean, I literally lost my mind then. It was really hard for me to recover from that. I just don't want that very personal episode to be made known to people I don't even know yet. It's just… it wasn't your story to share, Fuji, no matter how close those people are to you."

Fuji crossed his fingers. "And I know that too now, Harumi. I knew it was a mistake the minute the words left my mouth. I will never do something like that again, I can promise you that. Can you please forgive me this time?"

His eyes were earnest and pleading. Harumi found herself letting go of her anger somewhat.

"There's also the matter of you two drinking together. Are you sure nothing happened? I know she likes you. Chiharu told me she sent you love letters everyday in high school." Her purple eyes were full of challenge.

Fuji let out an exasperated sigh. "Hardly everyday. Chiharu exaggerates everything, you know how she is. It was just two or three times. And it was meant as a joke. I was popular in high school, and I got love letters almost every day. Yuriko joked that I must have gotten one from every girl at school, everyone but her. So she just sent me a couple as a joke."

She scanned his face, but other than exasperation, she couldn't read anything else.

"All right…" she slowly accepted.

"But I understand the way you feel, Harumi." Fuji gently stated. "I think we both underestimated how hard this long distance relationship would be. And the time we spent apart, we can never get it back. But we can make new memories from now on. I still remember the way you made me feel before you left, Harumi. I want to return to the way we were then."

Harumi felt her heart swelling with longing at his words. She still remembered things from that time like it was yesterday. The way she had felt complete and awake next to him; the way his lips had tasted in the rain; the way she was ready to let anything drop just to see him.

This time, it was her who reached across the table to hold his hand. "Me too, Fuji. I'm sure we can. I came back to Japan for you after all. Nothing's changed for me. Nothing at all!"

Fuji gently caressed her hand. "Really?"

"Of course," she answered with a smile.

Fuji suddenly looked torn, and she frowned worriedly. "What is it?"

His blue eyes pierced her when he looked back at her face. He seized her hand in both of his. "I want to go back to the way we were more than anything. But in order to do that, I really think that some things have to change."

Harumi was ready to change anything for him. She knew she wasn't perfect. If there was anything she could do to make this easier to go back to that all-consuming love they felt for each other, without drama, without suspicion, without fighting, then she was willing to try it.

"What is it, Fuji?" she asked gently.

Fuji looked at her for a second longer, the words struggling to get out of his mouth. Finally, he just said: "I think it'd be best if you stopped seeing Eiji."

He could see the way her face changed at those words, but before she could refuse him, he added: "Please hear me out, Harumi. I do feel worried when you are with him, I admit it readily. But I can't help it, not after the past you share with him!"

Harumi opened her mouth. "I…"

"My mind knows full well you'd never betray me, but my heart won't listen. And it makes me angry that it won't listen. I'm not saying you have to stop hanging out with him altogether. We can all still hang out as friends in a group, but when you are alone with him, it just makes me wonder."

Harumi looked down at half-finished smoothie in front of her. She could see where he was coming from.

"If you want," he added softly, "I will do the same with Yuriko. I know you don't like it when I'm alone with her, so I won't from now on, I promise."

She could feel knots forming in her stomach. "Even though she's a close friend of yours?"

Fuji smiled. "You are more important, Harumi. I want to make sure that you can rest easy."

She looked at him, really looked at him, and could see the sincerity behind his words. Slowly, she pressed her hand against her mouth as she tried to work it out. His words made sense. She didn't need to cut her friendship with Eiji. She could still hang out with him when all their other friends were around. That was all she needed anyway, wasn't it?

_But there are the practice matches with Kirihara. No one knows about those. And the final match is in a week… _

"Do we…" she started and then swallowed.

"Yes?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Nothing. I agree with you, Fuji. Let's both do that."

Fuji smiled in relief. "Thank you, Harumi."

Harumi smiled back, but her chest was heavy.

* * *

><p>The next day, Harumi finally found a part-time job at a cake store near Amaya's house. It had been good timing since her work schedule coincided with when Eiji usually had practice with Kirihara in the afternoon. Harumi didn't think she'd be able to lie to Eiji if the part-time job hadn't come along.<p>

However, things had improved considerably with Fuji. They were going on dates almost every day. Just the night before, he had taken her to an artificial lake in the middle of town, and they had rented a boat together. Harumi didn't remember the last time she had laughed so easily with him with no heavy thoughts weighing down on the air between them. She was glad that they had had that talk.

This afternoon at the cake store, business was lagging and Harumi was leaning against the counter with her head in her hands as she unconsciously counted the red berries on one of the cakes underneath her.

The vibrations of her phone pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Moshi mosh?" she answered distractedly.

"Heyya, Harumi!" Eiji's cheerful voice reached her ears, and she stood a little straighter.

"Hi, Eiji. How's practice going?"

The redhead's voice was a bit breathless as he replied. "I just finished with Kirihara for today. Tomorrow is the big day already! I can't believe it."

"You'll be just fine! You totally play like a normal and boring person now, and of course I mean that in a good way."

He laughed. "Neh, you'll come cheer me on tomorrow, won't you? You told me you are not scheduled to work."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Will Kirihara be going too?"

"No, he said he's busy."

His voice sounded disappointed.

Harumi racked her brain to try and come up with an excuse, but another part of her was telling her furiously to just go.

_I should be there for him tomorrow. I'll tell Fuji. He will understand. Maybe we can even go together._

"Sure, I wouldn't miss your big moment!" she finally said.

"Yata!" Eiji cheered. "I will feel less scared with you there. The match is at 10 in the morning. Let's meet at 8 in front of the station!"

"Ok," she whispered.

The bell jingled as a customer stepped in. "I gotta go now, I will see you tomorrow!"

"Ok! And Harumi? Thanks!"

"No problem," she whispered and then hung up. She clutched the phone to her chest and bit her lip.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Her head snapped up. "Yes, welcome!"

That night, Harumi played with her food as she still debated how to tell Fuji about this. He'd be disappointed for sure. She was breaking their promise after only five days. And telling him this would also mean telling him of all those times she went to watch Eiji and Kirihara play. And of all those times when she had played tennis with Eiji with just the two of them.

_Ugh, no way. It's like opening Pandora's box all over again. _

After dinner, Harumi was trudging to her room on heavy legs when Amaya sequestered her into her room instead.

Amaya's green eyes were serious when she said: "All right, Harumi. What's wrong with you? You've been moping around for the past couple of days. Is something on your mind?"

Harumi eyed her best friend before letting out a huge sigh and letting herself fall onto her bed, where she subsequently started kicking at the covers. Amaya sweatdropped as she quickly immobilized Harumi's wriggling shape before she could knock over the lamp on the nightstand.

"It's horrible, Amaya! I don't know what to do!"

"About what?"

Harumi sat up with her hair falling everywhere on her face.

Amaya giggled as she placed a wayward strand behind her friend's ear. "Come on, you can talk to me about anything."

Harumi debated for a second, but it was getting pretty heavy for her to bear alone. So she told Amaya everything that had happened between her and Fuji, and the talk that they had had. When she told her what Eiji had been up to with Kirihara however, Amaya's eyes widened. "I can't believe it!" she exclaimed. "I can't believe Eiji managed to do that without anyone finding out! I mean, he's been practicing with Tezuka and the others every morning! He must be exhausted from all that practice!"

Harumi hadn't thought of it that way, but now she just felt even more guilty.

"So, I should tell Fuji and convince him to go, right?" she asked in a small voice.

Amaya remained silent for a moment. "The thing is… I'm not sure Eiji would want to see Fuji. I mean… you know… Difficult past and all that. Eiji needs to be focused tomorrow, and Fuji being there will be a distraction as well as an extra pressure. At least that's how I see it."

Harumi buried her face in her bent knees. "I know... that's why I haven't called Fuji yet. I know it's not the best for Eiji. And I want to be there for him, I really do. But I did promise Fuji…"

"I could go with Oishi in your place," she offered. "I can tell Eiji that you're not feeling well and that you told us to come support him instead. But Harumi, after this is over, you need to tell him the truth."

She looked up at Amaya's tone, and saw that her friend's green eyes were gentle but serious. "I know what secrets do to people, Harumi, and you do too. Eiji deserves to know what's going on. You can't just start ignoring him from now on or use your part-time job as an excuse."

Harumi winced at her words, because they were true. She felt like the worst person on earth. She grimaced in advance at the way Eiji's traits would fall when Amaya and Oishi showed up tomorrow morning instead of her.

"I know, Amaya. Thanks," she mumbled thickly.

That night, as Harumi lay in bed looking at the ceiling in the dark, she felt empty and miserable. Did being in a relationship mean that there would be so many sacrifices? Was there really no way to please everyone? She felt torn and battered and tired. She almost wished she could go back to when she was just friends with both Eiji and Fuji, back when things were simple. Even though she suffered then because of her unrequited feelings, at least she had never felt wicked like she did at this instant. At least she didn't hate herself then.

She didn't know when she finally managed to fall asleep, but when she opened her eyes again, it was morning. A sunny and beautiful morning. And her phone was ringing.

Feeling like her head weighed ten pounds, she rolled over slowly and pried her eyelids open as she fumbled for her phone.

She did a double-take when she saw the time flashing on her screen. 9 o' clock! Way past her meeting time with Eiji! Which must mean that he must have already met up with Amaya and Oishi. Her mouth suddenly became dry as sleep deserted her in a flash.

She fumbled with her phone until she finally pried it open and stuck it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Harumi?"

It was Amaya's voice, and she could immediately tell that something was off. "What? What is it?" she almost screamed.

There was a lot of background noise wherever Amaya was. "I'm at the hospital!" Amaya's words made her blood run cold. "I was on my way to the station with Oishi, but he started have stomach pain. It got really bad, so I took him to the hospital instead. The doctors say he has appendicitis. I tried Eiji's phone but he's not picking up…."

All the rest became a distant buzz in Harumi's ears.

_Amaya and Oishi are not with Eiji. Which means he's all alone waiting for me. And his match is in an hour. Oh crap. Oh crap crap crap! _

"Harumi? Harumi?"

Harumi shut the phone close and in doing so saw that she had three missed calls from Eiji from an hour ago. She let out a whimper and grabbed the nearest shirt and shorts and changed, her mind totally blank. After she was done, she jumped down the stairs three at a time and ran outside into the hot August air. She dialled Eiji's number on her phone as she ran to the station, but after four rings an automated voice told her "the customer you are trying to reach is not available at this moment. Please try again…"

"DAMMIT!" she shouted as she hung up and ran even faster.

She hailed a cab and yelled at the taxi driver to drive her to the station as fast as he could, which the driver complied to readily after seeing the crazed glint in her eyes.

She got to the station at 9:15am, as shown by the big circular clock outside. She looked around at all the passersby walking past her and felt despair flow through her. She'd never be able to spot Eiji in this crowd.

She looked at the time again, 9:17am. She wiped unconsciously at her tears as she ran amidst the crowd, zigzagging amidst people with luggage and business briefcases.

And then it hit her. Eiji would not have waited. He must be at Tokyo U already!

She tried him again on her phone as she rushed inside the station and purchased a train ticket for the Inokashira line. The same automated response reached her ears. She ran past the crowd and flew down the three flights of stairs leading to the platform. The train she was supposed to take was signalling that its doors would be closing soon.

"Wait!" she shouted uselessly as she rushed towards it.

She knocked over a bearded man on her mad dash, earning a curse from him, but she didn't care. She zoomed past the closing doors and crashed against the doors on the other side. Everyone was looking at her disapprovingly, but she was oblivious to them. She had made it, and that was all that mattered.

Panting madly, she turned to face the window as the train began to move.

_Faster, faster, FASTER!_

She leaned her forehead against the glass and just prayed that she'd make it in time. She couldn't believe this was happening. She never should have asked Amaya and Oishi to go. It was wrong. And this must be the universe's way of telling her that.

Every station came and went by with the pace of snail to Harumi's boiling mind. Finally, the robotic female voice announced that the next station was Komaba Todaimae, which was close to the Komaba campus of Tokyo U where the tennis matches would go on.

She pushed herself near the doors and dashed out when the latter glided open. She asked for directions to the Komaba campus and then ran there breathlessly, feeling sweat pour down her forehead and back, staining her shirt.

Finally, the white gates of the Komaba campus came into view. Harumi doubled her speed and literally flew across the main lawn and up the stairs to the main building. It was 9:45am.

The receptionist jumped back when Harumi slammed both hands on her desk. "Where… are… the tennis… matches… for…scholarship?" she managed to wheeze out.

"T-the outdoor tennis courts."

"And those are?" she inquired impatiently.

The lady backed off as she pointed left. "At the end of that hall, out the doors and turn left."

"Thanks," Harumi wheezed as she resumed running.

When she stepped out, she tripped and fell on her knees. "Damn!" she cried out furiously, got back up and continued running.

She could see the tennis courts now, and the familiar sounds of ball meeting racket reached her ears. Even though she felt she might soon faint from lack of air, she still increased her strides until she made to the visitor stands. She craned the neck as she scanned the small-sized crowd gathered there. There was a match going on already in one of the courts, but the center court was empty.

She looked at her watch. 9:50am. She had made it! Now, if only she could find Eiji…

She looked around until she saw the building that housed the changing rooms. She dashed there, pushing past a group of players coming outside.

"Have you seen Kikumaru Eiji?" she asked them breathlessly. "Tall. Red hair!"

One of the guys with a purple bandana around his forehead looked over at her curiously. "I think I've seen him. He's still inside."

Harumi almost fainted from relief. "Oh thank God!

The boy next to him had a snake-like face and blue spiky hair. He smirked at her words. "Oh, don't thank anyone yet."

Harumi heard him but the words didn't register with her at all. She entered the boys' changing room without thinking twice about it, but it was empty except for Eiji sitting at the far end of the bench set in between the lockers. He had his eyes on the ground as he leaned on his racket.

Harumi stayed there, panting heavily as sweat rolled down her face. She wiped at her forehead slowly with a pounding in her heart that was not just from running. The relief and exhilaration from finally finding him was now overshadowed by the guilt in her chest.

"Eiji?" she called out in a small voice.

The redhead slowly looked up at the sound of her voice. If he was surprised to see her, it didn't show in his face. In fact, there was nothing but a dazed expression in his usually cheerful eyes.

Harumi ran to him and knelt down by his side. "What are you still doing here? Your match is in…" she looked down at her watch, "seven minutes!"

Eiji leaned his forehead against his hands holding onto the racket. "It's all over, Harumi. The match, everything," he spoke the words slowly, almost lethargically.

Harumi shook him. "What do you mean, it's all over? It hasn't even started yet!"

"They got me," he said in a daze. "Those bastards, they really got me."

"What do you mean?" Harumi yelled in fear and incomprehension, feeling like she was in some alternate reality.

Eiji's blue oval eyes met hers. "It's a doubles match, Harumi."

The shock made her fall back. She stared back at him unblinkingly. "What?"

"My match. It's a doubles match."

"But… but…! How can they not tell you? This is… this is unthinkable! It's against the rules!"

"One of my opponents was here," the redhead explained very calmly. "He's heard about me from the Nationals last year. He didn't think he could win, so he bought off the person in charge of administration to tell me a lie. So that I would be disqualified before I even step on that court."

Harumi thought back to the snake-faced boy she had come across and felt a surge of pure rage. "They can't do that! You can tell the school board! You can sue them!"

"And who would believe me? It's clearly written in my falsified contract that I have been made aware that it's a doubles match."

Harumi's mind was reeling. "But! It's a lie! You can prove it! Just…"

"Maybe I could…" Eiji cut her off gently. "But how long would that take? And how much money if this goes to court?" He sighed. "It's alright. It wasn't meant to be."

Harumi was shaking her head furiously. "No. No! This is not okay! I can't accept this! You have to play, Eiji! If it's a doubles match, you just need a partner! Call … call…"

_Oishi? He's in the hospital. And any of the other guys don't even know Eiji is here today. Besides, even if they accept to come, there's only 4 minutes left._

She felt tears of frustration and injustice well up in her eyes.

Eiji cupped her face in his hand and smiled at her. "It's all right, Harumi. It really is."

"No, it's not. Eiji, it's _not_!"

The redhead looked at a loss at the sight of her frustwrated and tearful eyes, but then he had a sad smile. "I'm glad you came. I thought something happened to you when I couldn't reach you."

She grabbed his hand, trying to fight off her tears and failing.

_The thought that I'm not coming on purpose never even entered his mind. Oh Eiji, I'm so sorry._

Eiji was more horrified at the sight of her tears than at his predicament. "Don't cry, Harumi. I told you, it's going to be fine! There's always next year."

She shook her head fiercely, making her honey hair fly. "I… I…"

Her purple eyes suddenly gained focus and determination as anger coursed through her veins. She stood up abruptly. "I will be your partner, then!" she shouted.

Eiji's eyes widened. "Huh?"

Breathing heavily, she stared down at her watch. "Tell them you are going to be five minutes late. Don't even think of giving up, Eiji! I'm not going to let you!"

That being said, she left the room in a hurry, leaving Eiji sitting there with his mouth ajar.

Harumi ran back to the main building, past the receptionist, until she came to the university sports complex gift shop she had passed by earlier. She bought a large Tokyo U shirt, a Tokyo U cap and a sports bra, a pair of sneakers and a tennis racket. Then, she went into the changing room. She put on her bra and then the shirt, attached her hair into a tight bun at the top of her head and secured the cap tightly to hide it. She changed her shoes, took hold of her racket, and ran back to the tennis courts.

This time, she spotted Eiji from far away. He was talking animatedly with the referee, who was pointing at his watch. Harumi ran a bit faster and finally came beside him.

"I'm sorry," she stated breathlessly, trying to make her voice deeper. "I'm late."

Eiji looked at her up and down for a second, fighting to let his jaw drop, and then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I told you he'd come! This is my doubles' partner…"

"Yamazaki, Katsuo," she provided, internally thanking her brother for letting her borrow his name temporarily.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the snake-faced boy from earlier studying her furiously. She rearranged her cap to hide her eyes from view.

The referee motioned at them impatiently. "All right then, take your positions. I have a tight schedule to keep today."

Eiji and Harumi bowed down low. "Sorry, sir. We will."

As they walked to their side of the court, Harumi suddenly realized fully what she had gotten herself into. She looked wildly at their pissed off opponents, and felt a slight shake taking hold of her hand holding the racket.

Eiji nudged her. "Nice make-over, "Katsuo". I'm impressed!"

She squeezed a pan of his shirt. "Eiji," she let out very quietly.

Before they took their positions, Eiji stopped in front of her and squeezed her shoulder hard. In spite of his light tone earlier, she could see that his eyes were brimming with emotion. "Don't be scared, Harumi."

"I have never played in an official match before," she started in a quivering voice. "And I'm not as good as you. I don't want to let you down."

There was a sizzling intensity in Eiji's eyes when he replied: "You can never let me down. I wouldn't be standing here if not for you. Literally. No matter what happens, thanks for not letting me give up before this even started."

Then, he gave her such a broad smile that she couldn't help but to feel warmed up. "An official match is nothing much. Just pretend we are playing together, just the two of us. Except this time it's us against those cheating bastards."

She found herself reciprocating his smile. Her fear turned into adrenaline. "You're right, Eiji. Let's show them!"

They high fived each other and took their positions, she in front, and he in the back.

_Let the game begin_, she thought fiercely as the other team got ready to serve.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! So... I'm gonna pretty save the speech on the time it took me to write this and just say that I appreciate all your comments and support! :D I hope you enjoyed the story. More to come soon!<p>

**Sasa:** haha yeah, although that story with Yuriko and Fuji is not really over yet *winks* Thanks for the review! Hope you liked the new one!

**Kurosora-chan:** as always, I love your comments! Man, can't believe it's taking me so long between chapters. Now that summer is here, it should be a bit faster. School is a big pain in my ass always. Oh nice, it's good that you're thinking of writing your own stories! Let me know how that goes! :D

**SandNinjaBunny:** Why, thank you very much! Yes, she has a lot of chemistry with Eiji. I'm sure you will enjoy what will be about to happen ;)

**It's a bunny:** haha your wishes are duly noted. I know that with the way the writing is going lately, that does seem like the end-game. But you'll have to read to find out. And yeah, Eiji would make a pretty damn good boyfriend if he existed in real life :)

See you next time people! :D Leave me your thoughts!


	14. The Match

**The Match**

The clouds moved quickly across the blue sky, dispersing the shadows and letting the sun light up the tennis courts below. Harumi readjusted her cap as a bead of sweat slowly rolled down the side of her face. Her whole body was tense in anticipation of the game that was about to start.

She clenched and unclenched her hands from around her racket, and freaked out when she felt her grip slipping due to her sweaty palms.

_I can do this. Focus. _

The referee took his seat and cleared his throat. "Now starts doubles 2 in court 3. Suzuki - Endo pair from Fukushima against Kikumaru – Yamazaki pair from Tokyo. Suzuki to serve."

The snake-faced boy with spiky blue pair purposefully licked his lips as he bounced the ball up and down. Harumi's eyes followed it tensely as her heart gave an erratic beat in her chest. Finally, Suzuki caught the ball in his hand, threw it in the air and served.

Harumi held her breath as the ball zoomed past her. She could swear she even heard the air whistle as it flew past her head. She heard the ball bounce, and then immediately the characteristic sound of Eiji's racket as the latter met it in mid-air.

Eiji aimed the ball back at their opponents' left fore court. The other boy, Endo, quickly intercepted it. His keen black eyes scanned Harumi and then the ball was flying straight towards her.

_Step back with left foot, twist, hit a backhand to their right backcourt._

The steps were outlined so clearly in her mind, but to her horror her body simply refused to budge. She was freezing, her entire being seemingly chiselled out of stone. The ball crashed at her left foot and then bounced away. She heard a huff as Eiji moved behind her and returned the shot for her.

Another bead of sweat rolled down her cheek. She squeezed her eyes shut as she told herself to get it together. When she opened them again, she saw Endo at the net, right in front of her. He looked down at her as he jumped and smashed the ball in her direction.

_Not again!_

She heard Eiji's footsteps behind her at the same time as the ball crashed a centimeter from left her foot and then twisted away in the opposite direction. She heard Eiji skid to a halt behind her abruptly, for she had been in his way. The ball bounced out of court.

"15 – love, Suzuki-Endo pair," the referee announced.

Slowly, as though her neck was made of hinges instead of bone and flesh, she turned to look at Eiji panting slightly behind her. She expected to see blame in his eyes, but he only looked at her encouragingly. "Don't mind, Harumi," he mouthed. "You'll get it next time."

Standing back straight, he twirled his racket around his right wrist twice before pointing it towards their opponents. "Hoi, hoi, is that all you've got?"

Harumi saw Endo and Suzuki exchange a look before flashing sardonic smiles in their direction.

Then, Suzuki positioned himself to serve again.

Harumi licked her dry lips. The ball flew towards their court once more, and Eiji sent it back with a grunt. Endo stepped up to the net and Harumi knew he was going to target it towards her again.

_Move, damn it! Just move! Do anything!_

With a raw scream, she forced her arm backwards and swung towards the oncoming ball. She missed it by a large margin, and the ball bounced away.

"30 – love, Suzuki-Endo pair."

Suzuki was laughing openly now. "Nani," he said to his partner, "that guy doesn't even know how to play tennis. Did Kikumaru convince a random guy on the street to be his partner?"

Harumi was shaking now. Her hand holding the racket hurt bad and she felt a muscle in her forearm spasm when she forced herself to relax her grip.

The sun went behind the clouds again and shadows crept towards her feet. In a daze, she saw her next efforts to catch the ball fall flat just like the first time. She felt a stranger in her own body, and she didn't understand why she was this way. She had never sucked this badly. Never.

The set ended without them scoring a single time, and it was suddenly time to switch courts.

"1-0, game to Suzuki-Endo pair," the referee announced unhelpfully.

Still in a daze, she started walking towards the opposite court. As they passed by Endo and Suzuki, the latter let out a laugh full of contempt. "Loser," he threw at her.

She cowered at his words and pulled the cap even lower on her face.

_This is a nightmare. A total nightmare. I'm ruining everything! Why am I like this? Why did I get Eiji into this match just to be humiliated by those two?!_

Suddenly, Eiji's hand was on her arm as he pulled her aside.

"Harumi! Hey, Harumi!"

She looked up at him slowly, shaking slightly. "I'm sorry, Eiji," she croaked. "I'll do better."

She felt tears coming and clenched her fists angrily.

Eiji suddenly pulled her close and bent down to whisper in her ear. "Why do you love tennis, Harumi?"

Two bewildered purple eyes looked up at him. Eiji's face was so very close all of a sudden and his dark blue eyes were warm. "Why do you love tennis, nya?" he repeated. "Me, I love it because it makes me feel like I'm flying. I feel free when I'm on the court. I feel like I can do anything! What about you?"

Harumi's eyes were shaking as she sank her gaze in his.

_Why is he asking me this? _

"Why do you love it?" he insisted now with a touch of childish impatience.

She blinked. "I guess… I guess it's because I feel like a different person, a stronger person. I like the fact that it's about strategy as much as physical endurance. I love that it forces me to analyze my opponents, and when I do manage to read one of their moves correctly, the rush that I get from that is almost addictive."

She blinked again.

_Reading my opponents… huh?_

In spite of her stress, her mind had been unconsciously registering Endo and Suzuki's play. After Suzuki served and Eiji returned the ball, Endo would always be at the net. His balls had a strange spin to them that made them bounce in unexpected directions.

Her eyes suddenly widened and she pulled on Eiji's shirt until his face was close once more. Feeling a beginning of excitement, she whispered in his ear what she had just realized.

When they pulled back, they were both grinning. The redhead winked at her. "See? You've got this! Just remember that feeling and forget about everything else. This is a game like any other, ok?"

Harumi nodded earnestly and took a deep breath before facing their opponents once more. Suzuki and Endo too finished conversing on the other side of the net.

Eiji was walking towards the back again when Harumi stopped him with one arm. "I'll be in the back this time."

Eiji studied her for a few seconds, before grinning. "Okay! It's time for me to show off my moves in front anyway!"

Harumi picked up a ball and breathed in deep as she took in its rough texture under her fingers. Yes, she loved tennis. She always played with a smile on her face and adrenaline rushing through her veins. This time would be no different.

She eyed their opponents and seemed to see them clearly for the first time. Her eyes measured the distance between them, and then she threw the ball in the air and served it. The ball zoomed low past the net, bounced on the white service line in front of Endo and spun away. Endo twisted around at the last second and returned it with a lobby.

Eiji shot up in the air like a bird and smashed it back with all his strength. "Toned down Kikumaru Beam!" he muttered under his breath.

"15 – love, Kikumaru-Yamazaki pair!"

"Yes!" Harumi cheered with her heart beating in her throat.

Eiji turned around and beamed with a thumbs-up. "Nice serve!"

Harumi served again, and this time Endo was ready for her. It turned into a rally. Endo aimed towards her again, but this time her body listened to her. She found that inner lake of calmness that she always drew from during matches as her eyes calmly gauged the blind spots in the other team. She detected three of them; they flashed on the ground in their court like neon lights. She kept them all in her sight as her arm automatically swung back. She didn't know which one she was going to choose until the last second, and she sent the ball there. Endo tried to predict her move as he moved back, only to grunt when the ball landed close to the net instead.

He flew forwards and sent it back as a drop shot. Eiji was ready for him at the net, and he returned it harshly to the far left. Suzuki tried to reach it, but failed.

Soon enough, yhey won that game, and the score was now 1-1.

"Yata!" Eiji acclaimed excitedly, and high-fived her enthusiastically.

Harumi smiled for a second, but then her eyes turned serious. "I got a good look at how they play. I'm not too worried about that guy Suzuki. He's all words but no action, but that guy Endo is hiding something."

During the next two games, like she feared, Endo slowly but surely took over. Calmly, he started creating more and more rallies. When Harumi's knees cracked as she struggled to reach a far shot, she suddenly realized what he was doing. He was consistently putting a downward spin on the ball, making it heavier and heavier. She saw Eiji having to bend his knees significantly in order to return his shots.

Also, it seemed that Endo had studied Eiji's way of playing. Now that the redhead was not doing his usual acrobatics, Endo kept sending the balls to his left side, just out of reach of his backhand.

As if to prove that observation right, Eiji twisted and extended his arm to return the ball with a regular backhand, but he missed it by a hair. He let out a surprised and tired grunt.

Harumi dashed towards him as fast as she could, feeling her quads burn, then she lunged down and hit the ball back before it could touch the ground. As a consequence, she rolled twice on herself and scraped her elbow.

However, the ball flew across the net almost lazily and Suzuki had no trouble smashing it back hard, knocking the racket out of Eiji's hand.

Harumi slowly climbed back up on her feet. She was panting madly but couldn't regain her breath. She was more tired than she cared to admit, and all that running on an empty stomach just to get here sure didn't help.

Eiji crouched down next to her and his face was full of concern. "Harumi, are you okay?"

"I'm good," she quickly panted.

"That guy Endo," Eiji said, "we need to do something about him."

"He's targeting your weak spots now that you're not doing acrobatics," she answered breathlessly. "And Suzuki gives the finishing shot when he's exhausted you. Suzuki's shots are nothing special, but they are strong."

"How did you know I was going to miss that shot?" he asked in surprise.

Harumi forced some saliva down her dry throat and said: "You use a lot of body rotation when you return balls to your left with a backhand. It's something that works well when you have your acrobatics, but now you actually have to make a step to the left to make that happen."

Eiji's eyes widened for a bit. "I'll pay attention to that."

She shook her head. "Not yet. Leave those to me for now. Make him think you still can't return them."

They stopped conferring as the other team served. The rally started again, just like before. Harumi struggled to regain her breath as sweat poured down her face and neck. Endo aimed at Eiji's left side, and Eiji let it go. Harumi was right behind him; she brought up her racket, focused, and performed an Arrow Shot.

The ball zoomed straight across the net over Eiji's shoulders, bounced and shot straight up into the sky. Endo skidded to halt and yelled at Suzuki. Suzuki ran back to baseline but the ball had already flown off court.

They continued that strategy until they won the game.

"5-4, Kikumaru-Yamazaki pair."

Harumi bent forward with her hands on her knees to try to breathe.

_Just one more game. Just one more and we can win this!_

"Are you sure you're okay, Harumi?" Eiji's voice seemed to drift to her from far away.

She flashed him a smile she hoped was encouraging. "Great. Just treat me to steak when this is done."

"I'll treat you to whatever you want! Steak, ramen, ice-cream, you name it!"

Harumi shook her head. "Meat. I just need meat."

"Meat it is, then!" Eiji promised with a wink.

They changed courts. It was their opponents' turn to serve. Endo and Suzuki conferred again for a while. Harumi noticed with a frown that Eiji was limping a little as he took his position. His right knee seemed to be bothering him, probably due to Endo's heavy shots.

The match started once more. Harumi shot her Arrow Shot, but this time Suzuki was the one who ran to catch it. He jumped in the air, higher and faster than her ball, and then smashed it back. The height combined with his power sent Eiji's racket flying again.

The redhead ground his teeth as he bent down to pick it back up. When he crouched down, there was an audible pop, and Eiji winced as he cradled his right knee. Harumi ran up to him. "Eiji! Are you okay?"

Eiji took a deep breath and slowly stood back up. His knee cracked again and he winced again. Closing one eye, he shooed Harumi back to the back of the court. "Don't mind! Don't mind! Nothing I can't handle."

With her heart in her throat, she trotted back to baseline. The game started again, and Harumi lost count of the shots exchanged. It all seemed to drag into an endless string of volleys and lobbies and drop shots and smashes.

Sweat now formed a constant layer on her body and she felt soaked through as though she had just stepped out of the shower. Her cap kept gliding down onto her eyes.

Endo was now always aiming his shots towards Eiji's far right, forcing him to put weight on his right knee. Harumi followed the game from behind him with more and more concern. Eiji's knee cracked again and he missed his shot. Harumi didn't know how she managed to run to his right just in time to send the ball back, but she did.

Eiji turned sideways slightly with a heaving chest. And then his eyes widened in alarm.

"Harumi!" he yelled as he ran back to her.

"What?" she panted. "What's going on?"

Eiji turned around and waved at the referee. "Stop! Time out!"

Harumi felt a bit scared. "What is it Eiji? Is it your knee?"

Eiji turned back towards her and she didn't think he heard her words. "Your nose is bleeding!" he stated worriedly as he fumbled in his pockets for a handkerchief, but unable to find it.

_What?!_

Bewildered, Harumi touched her nose and her hand came down bloody. The blood was now running down her mouth and chin, dripping onto the green ground. She hadn't even felt it. Eiji was now running back to his sports bag placed on the bench, in which he kept his water and an extra racket. He pulled out one of his towels and ran back to Harumi. She took it and pressed it to her nose.

"I'm alright," she said in a muffled voice, "It's just the heat."

The referee was now beside them. "Are you okay, Yamazaki?" He asked. "Do you need the medical team?"

Harumi pulled her cap lower over her eyes. "I'm fine," she answered in her fake boy's voice.

Eiji made another trip to his bag and then came back with his water bottle. He had another towel in his hand, which he soaked with the water, and then he started dabbing at the sweat on her face. "We should stop," he said in a low voice.

Harumi's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?" she exclaimed over the towel. "We're so close! I can continue. This is nothing!"

Eiji was distressed at her stubbornness. "But Harumi, you're exhausted!"

For only answer, she removed the towel from her nose, grimaced at how red it was, and then grabbed his water bottle and drank three long gulps. Wiping her chin, she reapplied the towel on her face. "I'll be fine in a minute," she reaffirmed. "Eiji, we can't stop now. Not now!"

Eiji sighed guiltily as he put his hands on his hips and looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I should be better than this. I'm making you cover for my mistakes."

She put a hand on his arm. "Hey," she said gently. "What are you talking about? You're not making any mistakes. As for covering for you, well isn't this what doubles partners do for each other? I'm more than happy to have your back."

The expression in Eiji's eyes as he looked back at her made her heart flutter for a second.

She turned away and checked the towel. To her relief, she saw that the bleeding seemed to be stopping. She threw away the bloody towel and picked up both hers and Eiji's racket. She handed his racket back to him with a determined look. Eiji smiled a little at her when he took it. "You are the coolest girl I've ever met, Harumi. You know that?"

She couldn't help smiling back. "If you say so. Come on, let's win this!"

The referee announced the end of the time-out, and she heard Suzuki say: "Don't let the sun get to you too much, noob!"

Harumi blocked him out firmly. No matter what he said to her, she'd see this to the end.

However, in spite of their best efforts, they still lost that game, and it was back to a draw of 5-5.

The match continued on and on, and soon enough Harumi's resolve was being replaced by utter fatigue once more.

_How long have we been playing now? Are matches always this long? _

The sun was now high and hot in the sky, and no clouds were in sight to offer shade.

Her body felt heavy and slow, like she was swimming in molasses, and black spots would sometimes dance in front of her eyes. A wave of nausea assaulted her and for a second she really thought she would faint.

She tried to remember that feeling of freedom and ecstasy that had animated her earlier, but now there was only fatigue. Desperately, her eyes roamed around, trying to find something to help her hold on to reality.

Her eyes riveted on Eiji's broad back, watching as sweat ran down the back of his neck. His shirt stuck to his back, and she could see his shoulder muscles roll under the tissue as he lifted the racket and sent the ball back. She heard his grunt. His calf muscles then contracted as he sprang from his spot.

_He's going to left center field_, she thought.

But from the corner of her eye she caught Endo smirking.

_No, Eiji! Don't go to left! That bastard is planning to send the ball to your right instead! _

What was the score now? Could they afford to lose this point? Her wild eyes flashed to the board, and she saw 6-5, 30-15 in favour of the other team. Another two points and the other two would win! She eyed the zone where Endo planned to hit the ball. It looked like a neon rectangle on the ground to her analytical mind, and if Harumi had been in better shape, she would have sprinted towards it without a second thought. But now her body and thoughts were both lethargic. Even if she ran, she wouldn't make it.

Eiji had realized Endo's plot by now as well. He twisted on his ankles and tried to change directions.

_He's not going to make it_, Harumi thought tiredly. She just wanted to sit down now. Her legs were shaking.

However, before she knew it, her body was carrying her in direction of that neon rectangle as a surge of willpower that didn't even seem to be her own carried her over to the right spot. Endo's smirk of triumph morphed into a tired cry of frustration when she appeared next to his ball and sent it back with the Arrow Shot again. Suzuki jumped over the net and smashed it back straight at her.

She prepared herself to take the shot, but then Eiji's racket intercepted it for her and sent it back.

She exchanged a long glance with him. He nodded to her and she nodded back. She suddenly felt a bit better again; if he wasn't going to give up, then she wouldn't either.

Her eyes riveted onto Eiji's back again when she took her position at the back. When he ran to catch the next shot, his knee cracked again. For some reason, Harumi felt the crack in her own right knee as well. The pain made her wince.

Eiji missed the ball by a hair, and now it was match point.

She knew she should feel desperate, but instead a strange sensation was unfolding inside of her and all around her. It was weird, like sinking into a deep ocean. She was way calmer than she should have been given the circumstances, and her breathing seemed to gradually become less laborious.

As though in a dream, she reported her attention onto Eiji's shoulder blades. His back seemed to be her anchor to consciousness. If she didn't lose sight of it, she knew she could do this.

"Match point," the referee said.

She grunted along with Eiji as he returned Endo's serve.

Her partner ran left, and she automatically ran right. She was thirsty, and her right knee was hurting. Why was it hurting like that? Was Endo's play getting to her as well? No matter, she had to push past this because she couldn't allow this to be match point. She knew Eiji wouldn't let this be match point.

The ball bounced towards her and she returned it with a wild cry. Endo hit it back with a heavy shot to Eiji's right again, and Harumi felt her right knee scream. She could see Endo signalling Suzuki to go to the right, where he seemed to know Eiji would aim for.

_DON'T HIT IT EIJI, LEAVE IT!_ She screamed in her mind urgently.

Eiji froze in front of her and the ball zoomed past his racket at the last second. Harumi gripped her own racket with both hands and sent it back in a straight line to the far left instead. Endo and Suzuki stared back in surprise.

The score was now 40-30.

Eiji and Harumi were both panting madly now. Harumi's cap was falling in her eyes and she corrected it with a shaky hand.

The redhead peeked back at Harumi with a strange look in his dark blue eyes.

Harumi also looked back at him. _"We can do this, Eiji,"_she thought almost feverishly.

Was it her imagination or did Eiji nod back in response?

It was match point again, and she could see that Suzuki and Endo were both eager to get this over with this time. There was an aggressiveness in their eyes that she didn't like at all.

Their match point serve was full of attack. The tennis ball flew towards them, spinning wildly on itself. Harumi reported her eyes to Eiji's back and just breathed.

In and out. In and out.

_I can go on. I just need to focus. Focus. Focus! _

And then, without warning, it happened.

_Right baseline serve, Harumi will get it. _

The thought bloomed in her head like it was her own. Eiji's wide oval eyes slowly turned back towards her, and she could see her own puzzled purple eyes reflected in his.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The yellow ball that was flying towards them at the speed of a bullet was now slowly spinning across the air like a movie in slow motion.

Eiji and Harumi's chests rose and fell at the same time as the same breath inflated their lungs.

Harumi had heard of this, had seen this happen to Eiji and Oishi at the Nationals, but never thought she would experience it one day herself. Never thought she would experience it with _him_.

_Synchro._

Like a dam let loose, Eiji's thoughts and feelings flowed into her, and hers into him.

All of his feelings and memories, all of his past, rushed into her. She saw him as a young kid, climbing on a tree as one of his sisters yelled at him from the ground to come back down. She saw him meeting Oishi for the first time, how they became friends and eventually doubles partners. She saw Eiji and her both sitting on the green container with the city at their feet and the snowflakes falling all around them; she knew how Eiji had felt then as he had looked her. His feelings for her then burned inside of her now like a bonfire. She saw him on the first night he was alone in his big house after everyone had left. He sat cross-legged in his room with the lights off and only the sound of the ticking clock for company, and she tasted how absolutely lonely he had felt.

Her vision of him standing there amongst the white tendrils of the synchro linking them together suddenly became blurry as tears filled her eyes.

Eiji's own eyes were wide and he wasn't breathing as he returned her gaze. And she knew he was seeing her memories as well. Her past; her own feelings. Fear rushed through her.

_No. Not that! _

But it was too late. The scene unfolded in front of both of their eyes, as though they were both remembering it.

_The man sitting behind the large and polished oak-wood desk asked her: Who are you?"_

_"Harumi, my name is Harumi," she replied quietly._

_"What did you do yesterday afternoon?"_

_There was along pause, and then: "I don't know. I can't remember."_

The tennis ball slowly flew past Harumi, but she watched it pass her by as though in a dream. Her limp right hand slowly clenched around her racket as she struggled to snatch herself away from these memories and sensations. But the match seemed distant and unreal now whereas the synchro was everything. It took over every cell in her body, and she was scared to death. These memories unfolding in front of them were hers and hers alone! She didn't want anyone else to know!

_The man behind the desk pushed a small bottle towards her across the wooden table. When Harumi took it, the small ruffling sound of pills rang throughout the silent room._

She cut that memory short through pure will.

_Stop it! Stop it!_

She sensed Eiji's confusion and she knew Eiji tasted her fear. But the synchro continued, and even deeper still the connection sizzled.

She was standing in the airport waiting area, looking out the large windows as planes landed and took off. The lights of the Eiffel Tower shimmered in the distance in the night. She had that photograph of she and Fuji clenched in her hand, but her mind was on Eiji. She wondered how he had lived during these three years. She wondered if he was still in Tokyo, and if yes, whether he would still remember her, whether he would want to see her again. Guilt and excitement were both in her heart then.

Her brother Katsuo placed a hand on her shoulder and she snapped out of her thoughts. "It's almost time, sister."

She smiled up at him. "I'll miss you."

"Take care."

And then Eiji's memories were taking over again. She saw herself through Eiji's eyes as he watched her and Amaya come out of the gliding doors of the airport. He had spotted them from the start. The car against which he leaned was burning hot under the summer sun, but he barely felt it. He watched her approach in her white t-shirt and her blue jeans and the red highlights in her honey hair. He watched her and there was apprehension in his chest, but also pure joy at just seeing her again in the flesh.

And when she called out his name in her soft and hesitant voice, her purple eyes gauging up uncertainly at him, he couldn't help but be moved. And all the feelings he thought he had suppressed all this time were coming back. Coming back in spite of himself. All the memories, all his feelings for her, they were coming back…

The tennis ball finished its curved course and fell to the ground; the instant it did, the connection between them ended as abruptly as it started.

Very distantly, they both heard the referee announce the other team's victory.

Harumi let her racket clunk to the ground, panting wildly. Her mind was blank and she still shook from shock and astonishment and something else she couldn't identify.

She saw Eiji start to walk towards her, and an irrational fear seized her. Without knowing what she was doing, she twirled around and ran away as fast as she could.

* * *

><p>Harumi walked around campus until she thought she would faint. She drank some water from the water fountain and then wiped wildly at her chin. Her heart still would not settle down.<p>

_What just happened? I don't understand… synchro… with Eiji?! But why? And why did I run away? God, everything is a mess!_

She clenched her head hard.

_I didn't do anything to salvage that match point, and now we lost, and Eiji lost the scholarship… Eiji… Eiji lost… _

She glided down against a tree.

_And he saw the man behind the desk. He saw. He probably knows about… _

A small moan escaped her mouth. For the first time in two years, she felt that paralyzing paranoia seize her brain again and forced herself to calm down. She couldn't have an episode now. She was supposed to be well now. Well!

She forced herself to breathe in and out and to focus on something from the present, but that just brought her back to the tennis match and the synchro, and made her feel worse. With a slightly shaky finger, she hit 1 on speed dial, stood up and paced as the phone rang and rang on the other end.

Finally, the line connected and somebody picked up.

"Hello?"

"Katsuo," she whispered in a low, urgent voice. "I need you to come get me. Come, come quick."

She looked around nervously at the few students walking past, going to their summer classes. No one paid any attention to the girl in boys' clothes with a cap on her head.

There was a pause on the other end, and then: "Harumi?"

"Yes!" she hissed impatiently.

Another pause on the other end, and then: "Are you okay? Where are you?"

She looked around, but the name of the place was escaping her. What campus was this again?

"N…" she started, "The…"

"Harumi?"

"Yes!" she exploded. "I'm thinking. Goddamnit Katsuo, just use the GPS on my phone or something."

There was the longest pause yet, and then the voice said slowly, carefully. "Harumi? This is not Katsuo. It's me, Fuji. What's going on with you? Where are you?"

Harumi felt her heart beat once, then twice, and then it stopped altogether, along with her breathing. Her purple eyes were wide as she looked around her and registered the campus once more. Komaba Campus, of course, of Tokyo University. She was in Tokyo, not France. And her speed dial was no longer Katsuo, but Fuji.

She just called Fuji!

"Harumi?" Fuji's voice sounded very worried now. "What's going on? Say something!"

Harumi forced herself to start breathing again.

_I've got this under control._

The laugh that escaped her mouth sounded manic to her own ears, and she quickly forced herself to stop. "Yeah, Fuji. It was a joke," she said with a dry mouth. "Of course I know it's you, silly."

There was a guff of air on the other end, as though Fuji had just let out a sigh of relief. "What kind of joke is this? You scared me badly just now! Where are you exactly?"

Harumi slowly sank down against the tree once more. "Sorry," she said.

"Is this still payback for what I told Yuriko?"

Was there a touch of coldness in his voice now?

"No," she let out. "No, I just. I'm on the Komaba campus of Tokyo U."

Suddenly, she found it easy to confess to what she had done.

"There's actually something I haven't told you because it was meant to be a secret, but it doesn't matter anymore. No, it sure doesn't matter now! – at this she had to repress the urge to giggle – You see, the thing is, Eiji had to play a tennis match to get a scholarship for Tokyo U. One of the rules of the school was not to use his acrobatics, so he's been training in secret with Kirihara to learn how to play regular tennis. Crazy, right? Anyway, I happened to find out, and he told me not to tell anyone from Seigaku, so I didn't."

She felt detached from the whole thing, as though none of the events she narrating related to her.

"The scholarship match was today. After we had our talk at the café the other day, I initially told Amaya and Oishi to come with Eiji instead, but as you probably know by now, Oishi is in the hospital with appendicitis. So I ended up going early this morning and I didn't have time to tell you. Sorry."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

Harumi played with a twig of grass. "You can be mad if you want, Fuji. I know I broke our promise."

She said it easily, and found that deep down she really didn't care. Her mind felt far away from here, and it was all she could do to keep hanging onto her train of thought.

Finally, Fuji answered: "I'm not mad, Harumi. It's just that… Are you sure that you are fine? Do you want me to come get you?"

She shrugged. "No. I'll be going back soon with Eiji. The match is done."

_And we lost. We lost. We lost! _

Fuji didn't ask how it went. Instead, he simply asked again: "Are you sure? Just tell me where exactly you are and I can come pick you up."

She shook her head. "No. There's no need."

"All right then. Call me when you get back."

Harumi hung up the phone and rested her forehead against her forearms.

* * *

><p>It was past 3pm that afternoon when Eiji finally found Harumi again.<p>

She was still sitting in the same position as earlier, with her back against the tree and her head on her forearms.

Eiji heaved a sigh of relief when he set eyes on her small figure. He had been worried when he saw her take off like that, but at the same time, he understood.

Synchro with her… it really had messed him up. She saw things that he didn't want her ever to see. Worse, she had experienced those things as if she had been him. He only hoped that the last memory from the airport had been cut off early enough by the sudden end of the synchro.

He didn't understand half of the things he had seen from her memories; all he knew was that she had been terrified both at reliving them and at knowing that he was seeing them too.

He might not have understood her memories, but her feelings had been clear as day to him, as though they had been his own. This is what synchro did to people. Eiji didn't know how he felt right now in the aftermath of this exchange; his body was hazy and light, as though he were dreaming.

He crouched beside her silently, and for long seconds he just watched her sleep with his hands wrapped around his knees like a little boy. She was still wearing her Tokyo U hat.

"Harumi," he called out quietly.

She didn't stir and he figured she must be passed out from all the exertion of the match. Slowly, he removed her cap and put it on the ground between them. A breeze ruffled her messy bun, half undoing it and making strands of honey hair fall across her closed eyes.

The redhead felt his throat tighten. When he was young, he had always been the spoiled child of the family. Being the only son and also the youngest, both his parents and all his sisters dotted on him and spoiled him, buying him whatever he wanted and giving him all the juicy things to eat. He never really knew what it meant to want something, to truly want something with every fibre of his being, until he had met her.

He wanted to throw a tantrum, to cry, to tap his foot and demand that he be given what he wanted, but he wasn't a boy anymore. The worst thing was that he had given her up willingly, and now he realized how stupid he had been.

Chiharu's words from the resort resonated in his mind, saying that people changed after 3 years. But she was probably wrong. After synchronizing with Harumi, he hadn't been able to see her feelings for him, if she still held onto them at all. It had all been about that man in the office… and the fear…

She was starting to awaken now. She mumbled something unintelligible as she rubbed her eyes against her forearms. Slowly, her eyelids glided open and two purple oceans settled on Eiji's smiling face.

"Yahoo," he greeted softly.

Her eyes were hazy and distant, as though she were still dreaming. Then, she blinked twice, softly, and a light of recognition slowly settled into them.

"Eiji," she mumbled as she looked around.

She sat back against the tree and stretched both arms over her head. "What time is it?"

Eiji looked down at his watch. "Ten past three. Have you been here all this time? I've been looking for you!"

Her eyes widened. She hadn't realized she had been passed out for nearly 3 hours. A dull headache was pounding at her temples.

"Yeah, I've been sleeping all this time. I don't even remember how I got here. Man, that match must have really killed me."

At the mention of the match, the synchro and the fact that they lost came back to her too.

Eiji saw the various expressions cross her face as she remembered all the reasons for which she had run away in the first place. Before she could freak out and bolt again, Eiji quickly rummaged through the plastic bag he was holding and pressed a cold soda can to her cheek.

She startled at the sudden touch and received the can with wide eyes. After awhile, she silently accepted it and brought it to her lips. After taking long gulps of the drink, she wiped at her chin.

"I'm sorry we lost," she finally said without looking at him. "What are you going to do now? Maybe you can ask for a student loan instead. Or you could…"

"Neh, Harumi! Aren't you hungry? I'm starving!" he cut her off with a wide grin. "I did promise you meat if we saw this through."

She played with her thumbs, thought of telling to stop changing the subject, but instead she said: "That was when I thought we had a shot at winning."

He shrugged. "That doesn't really matter. A promise is a promise."

She raised earnest eyes towards him. "Really, Eiji. What are you going to do? This is your future we're talking about here. And… I don't know, now I've gone and messed it all up."

"No!" his tone was harsh. "Don't you ever think that, Harumi. This has nothing to do with you. Things happen that we don't see coming, that's all."

The subject of the synchro suddenly hung heavy over their heads, and both of them looked down awkwardly. However, soon enough, a happy grin was back on his lips. He pulled Harumi up to her feet and dragged her behind him.

"Come on, I've got the perfect place in mind!"

She was confused for a second. "A place for what?"

"For lunch, of course!" One dark blue eye peeked back at her. "Unless you have some other place to be?"

She sighed. "No, not really. All right then, let's go eat."

At that moment, she had no memory of that phone call she had made to Fuji only three hours ago.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! :D Good news is that the next chapter is all finished too! I will be posting that one way soon, meaning some time next week! Hope you enjoyed!<p>

**SandNinjaBunny:** Thanks for the review. Yes, Eiji does need and deserve lots of love. And well, she'll realize pretty gradually. For now, she loves them both, but like people say, you may love many different people, but there's not many who are suitable for you to spend the rest of your life with.

**Kurosora-chan**: haha well this was a bit different from what you foresaw, but actually at one point I did think about Yuriko seeing them. Although it was in a slightly different context in those earlier drafts. Well, you should keep going with your writing. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm 100% happy with my writing either. I think we'll always be the most critical of our own work, but hey if there's something you really wanna write, you should just go for it :)


	15. The Man Behind the Oak-wood Desk

**The Man Behind the Oak-wood Desk**

As Eiji and Harumi searched for a place to eat, Harumi saw that the redhead was still limping a little. She saw a bandage around it that she hasn't seen before, so he had probably wrapped it himself while she was sleeping under the tree.

"How is your knee?" she inquired.

"I'll live," he replied with a good-natured wave of his hand. "That Endo guy is amazing though. I can't wait to play him again!"

She smiled indulgently.

_Only Eiji sees the positive in everything._

They walked around until they saw a place for all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. When they entered, a cheerful waitress came to greet them at the door.

"For two?" she asked.

"Hai!" Eiji replied eagerly, already rubbing his hands at the prospect of food.

"Over here!"

She guided them to a table near the window, and then lay down the menu for them. "We have a special combo for couples today! All-you-can eat for two at the price of one!"

Her smile waned at the expression on Eiji and Harumi's faces. "Oh…" she exclaimed as her cheeks flushed red. "I'm sorry… I assumed…"

"It's fine," Eiji reassured her as he scratched his head. "A glass of water for me please."

However, Harumi couldn't help but to notice the slight pink shade of his cheeks and the fact that he was beaming happily. "And for me too," she added to the waitress in a small voice.

"Yes, right away!" the waitress fumbled and then quickly left.

Eiji laughed. "Well, that was funny! Hey, we should have lied about it and gotten the deal!"

Harumi studied him again, but he was already reading the menu eagerly. Slowly, she picked up hers as well. She couldn't help but remember the last scene from their synchro, when he had seen her coming out of the airport. The memory had been cut short, but she could feel the way he…

_The way what? What did I see exactly?_

She looked at the redhead, at the way his eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as he studied the menu like it was a code to be deciphered. His hair, usually carefully combed to each side of his head, was now sticking out every which way.

What would she do if it meant that he still loved her?

Just thinking about it made her jerk up as though she had been electrocuted. She didn't know how she felt about this.

She crossed and uncrossed her legs under the table, suddenly unable to sit still. Her heart was beating very close to her throat and very loudly in her ears.

_It will just mess everything up again! And I'm not even sure if I'm right . No, let's not think about this anymore, dammit!_

The waitress bringing their food over snatched her out of her thoughts. There was chicken, beef, pork and seafood. Eiji rolled up his sleeves and took hold of the thongs. "Hehe! I love doing the cooking! I will grill this just right, nya!"

Harumi shook herself and forced herself to forget these troubling thoughts. "I had Korean BBQ in France too. It's really widespread now it seems," she declared as she started with her salad. Her eyes lit up. "Wow, this is amazing!"

Eiji made pieces of beef jump on the grill, and then pressed down on them with the thongs until the juices leaked out. "I feel like a chef when I do this, it's awesome!"

Harumi laughed at his antics and put some meat on his plate. "Well, don't forget to eat too, "chef"".

They ate until they could eat no more, and then slowly staggered out into the street. Harumi rubbed at her round belly and sighed. "Man, I'm so full. I need to digest."

Her eyelids were also heavy, and she felt like she was sleepwalking as she staggered after Eiji when he started walking.

"Neh, will you be coming to the Komaba Campus in September?" Eiji asked as he eyed the tall building to their right.

Harumi followed his gaze. "Yep. Japanese Literature and Creative Writing is held here. What program did you apply for?"

"Arts and Sciences," Eiji answered. "I wasn't sure which one I like best, so I wanted to take both. But now I guess it will be neither." He had a self-deprecating smile at that as he rubbed his head. Before Harumi could start prodding him on the subject again, he quickly added: "You're lucky that you already know what you want to do."

Harumi shrugged. "It could all change still. I'm keeping my options open. But I do think that writing is really my calling at the moment. I just don't know if I can make a career out of it."

"What are you talking about? You already published several books. I'm sure you can make it, Haru."

They walked for a moment in silence. "Seriously Eiji," she started without looking at him, "what's your plan now? How much do you need for your tuition? Maybe I can help. I have a part-time job now, and you can get one too."

"Oh look," Eiji pointed without answering. "They are holding a beer festival! Want to go see?"

Before she could answer, he was already sprinting towards the colourful stands and banners.

_You can't run away from that answer forever, Eiji._

Still, it was late afternoon and the weather was extremely hot. A cold beer would be more than welcome. She ran after him and caught up with him near one of the stands.

Eiji was listening attentively as a bearded man explained how beer was made. There were several barrels in front of him, and there was a waiting line in front of each one formed by people awaiting to taste the different beers. They held empty glasses and conversed.

Harumi tugged Eiji by the shirt. "Well, since we're here, let's try some."

He flashed her a cat-like grin and showed her two empty glasses. "Already ahead of you!"

They waited in line for some time, just looking around at all the activity. There were plenty of other stands for Japanese snacks, gifts and games. Harumi didn't know there was a festival here at this time of the year. Then, it was finally their turn. Harumi took a first sip of the cold beer and sighed. "Nothing like cold beer on a hot day!"

"No kidding!" Eiji said as he gulped down half of his glass.

"Easy there," she laughed, "is your alcohol tolerance still as poor as always?"

He frowned. "What are you talking about? My alcohol tolerance is great!"

"Sure, sure. As long as you don't start acting crazy, Kikumaru Eiji."

Eiji shook his head at her. "Come on, let's check out the rest of the place."

They walked on the sinewy streets, looking on at all the food and beverage stands. The crowd slowly but surely got thicker as afternoon slowly turned into evening. If Harumi and Eiji were not so full, they would have bought all the street food they came across.

"Damn!" Harumi exclaimed as she spotted some fried teriyaki. "I wish I had more space in my belly!"

She sweatdropped when she saw that Eiji was already eating some from a box. "Eiji, you're going to be sick!"

"No I won't," he answered with his mouth full. "There's always space for fried teriyaki!"

She tapped him lightly on the head. "Come on, you glutton, time to burn off those calories! There's a shooting game in there!"

She ran giddily to the stand and made her way to the front. Small colourful targets appeared and then disappeared behind a box, and you had to shoot them with a bubble gun. Eiji made his way next to her.

"Come on!" she said laughingly. "Let's compete to see who has better aim."

"Challenge accepted! I'll have you know that you can't win over my keen eyes," he declared.

"Dulled by beer this evening, so I'd say we're even!"

"I told you that this little alcohol is nothing!"

Harumi seized a gun and winked at him. "Let's see then." Eiji also lifted his gun with a humph.

They took aim and started shooting. Mid-way through, Eiji had to stop because the little figures moving around were making him nauseous. Harumi ended up shooting three targets, which earned her a small prize. She laughed at him bent over on the side of the stand. "What did I tell you, Mr. Keen Eyes?"

The stand owner came up to her with a bright smile. "What prize do you want?"

Harumi looked at all the stuffed animals on display, and then her face lit up. "That one! I want that one!"

Clutching her prize to her chest, she made her way to Eiji's side. The redhead looked up with a pout. "I ate too much, that's all."

"If you say so," she accepted good-naturedly. "Look what I got!'

It was a stuffed cat. A black one with auburn fur and blue eyes. "Doesn't it look like you?" she said as she lifted the cat beside Eiji's face. "Look, he's got the nya-smile."

Eiji leaned away from it from a critical eye. "No, I'm way cuter than that!"

"No way! You don't have his baby fat cheeks!"

Eiji pinched his cheeks with both hands and stretched them out. "What do you mean, nya! Here they are!"

Harumi doubled over laughing at his face, and Eiji soon joined her.

As night fell around them and the stands started lighting up, they heard soft music drifting to them from a few meters ahead. They walked past the crowd and saw that it was coming from a live band playing at an open-air pub. Harumi saw with some concern that Eiji's limp had gotten worse.

She tugged on his shirt. "Hey, what do you say we take a break over there? It looks nice with all the lights on."

Eiji's eyes brightened up. "Okay!"

They took a seat to the left of the stage and listened to the soft music and the murmurs of conversation for a while.

"This area is nice," Eiji said, "I don't know which festival this is, but it's so lively! You'll love it here when you come for school."

A waiter came, asking if he could bring them anything. Harumi asked for some wine, and Eiji went for a cocktail. She arched an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure?"

Eiji waved her off. "Stop treating me like a child, moh!"

She laughed. "I'm not! There's nothing embarrassing about not handling alcohol! I have this friend from France, she would get drunk with half a glass of white wine. She'd turn super red in the face and start blabbering about drama in her life. It's pretty funny."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

She laughed as she poked out her tongue at him.

Their drinks arrived, and Harumi poured herself a small glass of red wine. She lifted her glass with a somewhat cheeky smile. "Cheers."

Eiji bumped his cocktail against her glass and the sound of glass seemed clear and pure even amidst the music. Eiji took a sip and sank back in his chair as he looked up the stage at the band. Harumi really wanted to talk about his scholarship again, but he had evaded her twice already.

She didn't want to push it, but she was worried.

The whole point of the match was to acquire this scholarship, and now that all their efforts had turned out to be in vain, she wondered whether Eiji was feeling down. He was smiling now as he bobbed his head to the music and the lights were dancing in his hair and on his face, but what was he really feeling deep down?

From the synchro, she knew he often felt lonely nowadays. She wondered whether he was feeling that way right now even though he seemed like his usual happy self.

"Is there something on my face?"

Eiji's voice made her snap out of her trance as she realized she had been staring at him. "N-no," she blabbered. "I just… I was thinking."

His dark blue eyes didn't betray what he thought of her answer. Suddenly, he tapped a fist to his palm. "Oh yeah, I saw something strange the other day."

"Strange?" she inquired, pretty relieved at this change in subject.

"Yeah, I saw Yuriko and Jiro at the hospital the other day when I went to visit Shima with Kaidoh and Naoki."

Harumi waved at him to pursue, and so Eiji recounted their conversation, as well as what he had seen in the room they had been visiting. "There was this freaky old man hooked to a machine. He seemed to be in a coma. I know I wasn't supposed to enter, but – he shrugged unremorsefully – you know me, I did it anyway. So, the weird thing is that both Jiro and Yuriko called him Dad before they left the hall."

Harumi was puzzled. "Really?"

He marked a pause. "You don't think they are secretly married, do you?"

Harumi sweatdropped at Eiji's conclusion. She wanted to laugh because she knew who Yuriko had a crush on, and it wasn't Jiro. However, Eiji didn't know that and she really didn't want to start on this topic.

No, something else that Eiji said worried her.

"You said they were talking about their Dad and how "they" put him there."

The redhead nodded with the cocktail glass between his lips.

Harumi arched one eyebrow. "And she said she couldn't wait until "they" were in university. So whoever "they" are, they are our age. I know Yuriko will be attending Tokyo U too, so "they" will be there."

Eiji shrugged. "I guess."

"Are you sure that's what they said?"

He put down his glass when he saw her serious expression. "Do you have an idea who "they" might be?"

"No", she said, but she had this stupid inkling that it had something to do with Fuji, and perhaps her too, with the way that Jiro always stared at her in that creepy way of his.

_But that's totally stupid. I barely even know them, and I've never even seen their Dad. But Fuji… Fuji is close to her. Maybe he knows something about this._

She made a mental note to ask him later.

Eiji finished sipping at his cocktail and crossed his arms behind his head as he leaned back and stretched like a feline. Harumi couldn't help noticing the lines that his chest muscles made under his shirt and the skin of his lower abs revealed by his stretching motion.

She quickly looked away, attributing the heat she felt to the wine.

"Oh, there is one other thing," Eiji's voice made her literally shiver.

She crossed her arms across her chest. "What's that?"

"Shima said there is a new swimming pool opening up close to home, and Naoki insisted we go check it out." He closed one eye. "It's summer after all."

She nodded in approval. "How's Chiharu's ankle doing?"

"Fine. She got it taped and they gave her a crutch."

Harumi's purple eyes considered him for a moment until the redhead felt slightly flushed. "What?"

"She told you about Atobe, didn't she?"

Eiji literally toppled over in his chair and fell on his ass. His red hair soon emerged from the table's edge and he exclaimed with horror in his eyes: "How do you know? I didn't tell a soul! So how do you know?! Oh man, she'll kill me!"

She couldn't help the laughter that rose straight from her belly and brayed out of her mouth. She laughed until she was hitting the table with her fist. Several people turned in their direction and reproachful whispers arose that they were disturbing the music.

Eiji leaned on the table. "Seriously Harumi!" he whined. "Did I say something in my sleep?"

Repressing a final giggle, she finally said: "I've never seen you asleep Eiji. In fact, I've always wondered if you ever do sleep."

He leaned closer to her petulantly. "Not funny! So did she tell you too? Is that it?"

All hilarity aside, Harumi figured this was probably the only way to find out what really happened between Chiharu and Atobe, so she decided to tell a small lie: "Yeah, she did. She was crying that day at the beach."

Ok, maybe a big lie.

At this, Eiji sobered up and sat back down with a sigh. "I never pictured Atobe to be such a jerk. Sure, he's haughty and loves himself, but he's always seemed responsible, you know?"

Harumi shrugged. "Responsible? I don't know about that."

"Well, he did use to be the captain of Hyotei. That's a lot of responsibility. But I guess when it comes to girls, he's… different." His face fell. "Poor Shima. I feel so bad that she had to go through all that by herself. I thought she'd at least tell one of you."

"She does have her pride…" Harumi added carefully, but inside she was brimming at how close Eiji was to spilling the beans.

Eiji sighed: "Pride or not, you need to reach out when you need help." His oval eyes met hers. "Now I don't know about a lot of things, but even I know that going through what she went through alone is just scary."

_Eiji looks so serious. Is it really that bad? Maybe it's best if I ask Chiharu directly. _

Suddenly, she was feeling bad for trying to get this information from Eiji in this fashion.

_Gosh, Naoki is the one who always does this. This is not me. _

She sighed and let it go internally, but the redhead wasn't finished: "Are you the prideful type, Harumi?"

Her eyes widened at the random shift in focus. "Huh?"

He leaned forward, his eyes searching her. "If you ever find yourself in a scary situation, you'd ask for help?"

"Why… yes, I suppose… yes, of course."

"Then will you tell me about the man from your memories?"

She froze at this, and her expression of surprise morphed into one that was undecipherable to Eiji. After a while, she managed to smile. "Oh… that's nothing important."

Eiji wasn't ready to let it go. "Don't lie to me, Harumi. I felt how scared you were during the synchro when you remembered him, and synchroes don't lie."

She took a quick sip of wine for countenance and then set her glass down firmly. "No Eiji," she answered with blazing purple eyes. "I don't want to talk about that. And please, don't tell anyone about what happened today. I'm begging you here!"

"Harumi…" he started.

But Harumi's phone chose that moment to buzz, cutting him off. She looked down and saw it was a text message from Amaya.

_R u back yet?_ it said.

The time on the phone flashed 9:08pm. She hadn't realized it was this late already.

_Not yet,_ she typed. _Soon._

A few seconds later, Amaya replied: _Fuji's worried. U told him u'd be back in the afternoon._

She frowned. _I didn't talk to him at all today._

_Really? He told me u called him around 12._

_"Nope, I didn't…"_ she started typing but then she felt a cold hand close around her heart as a sneaky and all too familiar suspicion descended upon her.

She quickly closed her SMS window with Amaya and checked her calls history, and when she saw an outgoing call to Fuji's cell at 12:07pm today, her mouth went suddenly dry.

_What the hell is this? Nonono, this can't be real. It's gotta be a mistake!_

But the call history clearly showed a call to Fuji that lasted 4 minutes and 42 seconds. A phone call she had no recollection of. What did she say to him? Did he know she was here with Eiji? Did she tell him she'd be back soon? Or did she say something completely crazy and out of the blue?

_Oh God! Oh my God!_

Vaguely, she was aware that Eiji was reaching out to her, worried about her sudden silence and the paleness of her face.

She threw her chair back quite abruptly.

"I'll be right back. Bathroom break," she muttered and was gone in a whirl of honey locks.

_This can't be happening. Not again. No, please no, please no, please…_

Her thoughts were hazy and laced with panic as she ran through the crowd. The music from the stage now sounded thunderous and chaotic to her ears instead of soothing. All around her, there were yellow halos around the lights that made people's faces looked ghostly.

_I'm supposed to be better. Why did this happen? It has to be the synchro. All these memories… I didn't ever want to remember them again. So why?! WHY?_

Suddenly, the crowd was behind her and she found herself in the open space of a park. The benches were empty at this hour, and the paths winding through the trees were dark. Faintly, from far away, the sound of music drifted to her ears. How far away had she run?

Feeling suddenly exhausted, she sank onto the grass and put her face in her hands and just breathed.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay," she murmured to herself as she gently rocked back and forth.

Shakily, she opened her phone again and stared at that phantom phone call she had made. What could she possibly have talked about with Fuji? What did he know now? Already he thought she was weak and to be protected, so what would he think of her now? And knowing herself, she had probably blabbered about being here with Eiji, which meant he now knew she broke their promise, which meant she would have to deal with his unhappiness again when she went back.

Tears gathered in her eyes. Why was everything so damn hard?

"Harumi!"

She didn't need to look up to know who that voice belonged to. She resented Eiji a little at this moment, for always being able to find her. She didn't want him to see her like this, this messy side of her, this crazy and messy side of her she thought she had left behind in France.

His warm hand on her shoulder made her head jerk up and strands of hair fall in her wet eyes. Her angry request that he leave her alone died on her lips when he saw the sincere concern brimming like a bonfire in his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked as he shook her a little. "You're scaring me right now, Harumi!"

She shook her head, suddenly unable to answer.

"Does this have anything to do with that man behind the desk from your memories? I'm sorry I asked!"

He looked so contrite and so guilty, and she couldn't stand it.

"Stop," she let out roughly.

Her tone made his hold on her shoulder waver.

She seized her head in her hands and shook his hand off completely. "Stop apologizing. Stop feeling guilty. Stop being so goddamn nice to me. Stop everything!"

She turned wild purple eyes towards him. "Did you know I almost didn't come today?" she yelled. Standing up and starting to pace on the grass, she continued wildly: "Oh no! It wasn't because I was late or delayed. No! I decided not to come! To just let you play alone! I made that decision because Fuji doesn't like it when we're alone together!" She had a wild laugh at that. "So I chose him again, oh yes! Isn't that just great? Just _awesome_?!"

She suddenly stopped her pacing. "I'm not a good person to you, Eiji. No, I never was, not three years ago, not now. Because I'm selfish and stupid, and half the time I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just a m-mess! And now you know the truth about me too, so stop with your nice words and nice gestures because I don't deserve them! Just… stop everything."

She finished talking and burst into tears, hard sobs wracking through her as she pressed both fists against her eyes.

She couldn't hear anything above the sound of her own sobs, which sounded so ugly and so desperate to her own ears. She didn't know if Eiji had left her alone like she asked or whether he was still standing there, but she wished it was the former.

_What am I saying? Do I want him to hate me again? _

Slowly, after an indefinite amount of time, her sobs finally dwindled to soft cries, then to sniffles. She slowly removed the fists from over her eyes and blinked at a world gone blurry from crying.

She expected to see an empty lawn and then the night sky beyond, but instead she saw Eiji standing there in front of her. He had an uncertain look on his face as he clutched his blue handkerchief in front of him with both hands.

But that expression faded almost immediately his eyes met hers. He closed the distance between them and quietly pressed the handkerchief into her hands.

"But you did come," he told her with a smile. "Today, you chose _me_, and I'm really happy about that! So I don't agree with anything you just said."

Before she could reply, his eyes widened and he pointed one finger at her. "Okay, except maybe for one thing. Yes, you are pretty stupid."

She stared incomprehensibly at Eiji's teasing wink.

_What the hell… he's supposed to be running away from my crazy outburst right now! _

"Yeah, maybe I'll call you Baka Harumi from now on," the redhead continued. "Only a baka would put on some boys clothes and pretend to be my doubles partner on a whim. Yeah, now that I think about it, only a very brave or a very nice baka would do something like that! And for someone who doesn't know what they're doing half the time, you sure scored a few good ones against Endo and Suzuki today."

His eyes softened. "If you're a mess, then I'm happy I've got such a messy person like you as friend. I don't think I'd ever be able to trust a clean person anyway. Not that I don't trust Inui or anything just cuz he's physically clean and his house is like a lab. No, I mean clean like they don't get their hands dirty when it matters."

Harumi let out an involuntary giggle as she wiped at her tears with his handkerchief. "You're not making a lot of sense right now, Eiji."

He looked offended at this. "Which part? I think it was all pretty philosophical! Almost Fraudian, if you ask me."

She let out a genuine laugh at this. "Do you mean Freudian?"

He blushed. "Yeah, whatever, that guy who went on about dreams."

_What is this nonsense?_

But she was laughing now and her tears weren't even dry yet. Five minutes ago she wasn't even sure she would laugh again, but now everything that burdened her seemed lighter.

Eiji was laughing a little too with a hand buried in his hair, and she couldn't help but feel like he had spun a warm aura around the both of them, giving her peace. Peace which had been hard to come by ever since she left him.

_God, I really didn't know what I had back then._

That thought made her laughter fade away.

The night breeze blew over them again, carrying the scent of grass and making the boughs of the trees sigh. She inhaled deeply and took his hand. It was warm and big in hers, and she had to use both of hers to hold his properly. Her touch made his lips morph from a smile to a stunned O-shape.

She said nothing, but tugged at his hand gently until he followed her to one of the benches. She sat down, and a second later, he imitated her.

Eiji's heart hammered nervously against his chest as he wondered what she was about to do. Her purple eyes were rimmed with red, but the light in them was tender.

"Eiji," she said quietly, "I think I want to tell you about the man from my memories now." Her eyes darkened a little at that, but then she looked back at him determinedly. "Will you listen? Please?"

He hadn't expected this, but he was happy that she had decided to trust him. "Of course, Harumi. You can tell me anything."

She was a little scared again. She hadn't told this to anyone yet. Not to Fuji, not to Amaya. She hadn't even dared think it when she had visited her parents' grave.

But now she wanted to tell Eiji.

"That man's name… is Dr. Schneider. He's what you call a psychiatrist, or in more common words, a shrink."

She had a small rictus at that, as if saying the word hurt her tongue. She turned deep purple eyes towards him, made deeper still by the night shadows. He found himself forgetting to breathe a little at the sight of her looking at him so intently.

"Do you remember what happened to me when my parents passed away?" she clenched his hand a little harder as she said this.

Eiji could only nod, feeling a knot in his throat at the recollection of how he had failed her then.

"The shock made me… forget things. Amnesia, they called it. Kind of a post-traumatic stress type of amnesia, I guess. I've never really understood those medical terms they use."

Once again, Eiji nodded.

"I thought it was all over when I remembered everything again, but it turns out that it wasn't so. After I went to France, it was still very hard to accept my parents' death. And Katsuo, my brother… he took it harder than I did. He became very withdrawn, he wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't talk to anybody. And I had trouble learning French and making friends at school. And I kept thinking about… well about my life here, the one I had given up on, and it just made starting a new one all the harder. And well, those are all the reasons why Dr. Schneider thought I got my illness."

A feeling of dread descended upon Eiji. "What illness?" he exclaimed in a scared whisper.

She stared at him briefly through those deep purple eyes of hers. "I would forget things," she murmured in a very small voice. "I would say things to people or do things or go to places and then have no recollection of any of it. At first I couldn't believe them. I thought, what a bunch of bullshit this all was. I refused to go to therapy because for me all of that was ridiculous. Dr. Schneider called it something fancy, something like dissociative personality disorder, although he said it was mild. I googled it, and it says it's like you become another person. But that's just… - she let out a huffing laugh – that's just stupid. That only happens in movies to people who are like… serial killers or something."

Eiji put his other hand on hers when he realized hers was shaking. But he didn't know what else to say. He was in shock himself.

"What finally convinced me that it was real was when I… when I woke up in the middle of one of my episodes. And I was…"

She wet her lips, but they remained hopelessly dry, just like her whole mouth.

You can't say this. You can't tell this to anyone. You'll scare him.

"Harumi?" Eiji prompted.

She looked at Eiji, really looked at him, and decided to trust him. Trust him with the monster secret inside of her. He could do what he wanted with it.

"I was standing on top of the roof of my apartment," she finally confessed as her eyes became distant. "I was… standing on the edge of it. I could hear the sounds of traffic underneath and… the wind was on my face, and for a moment I thought I was flying and the sky was so blue and so close. I never meant to… never meant to… I didn't even know how I got there. I never meant to do anything like that!"

She looked down at her lap. "That's what forced to accept that I needed help. I went to Dr. Schneider then. Therapy twice a week. Pills twice a day. And then it got better and then disappeared altogether. Until today. Apparently, I called Fuji right after the match. I wonder what we talked about…" Her chin started quivering. "I don't remember it at all."

She lifted terror-stricken eyes towards his pale face. "Eiji, I don't remember _at all_! It must be happening again!"

For only reply, Eiji pulled her into a tight hug with both arms; a hug so hard that it seemed about to break her bones. She found her face pressed against his neck.

"I shouldn't have let you leave," Eiji said thickly against her hair. "You should have stayed here, stayed with Fuji, you needed him the most then. Why did you go to that place to suffer alone like you did?"

She was crying again now as she clenched a fistful of his shirt in her hand. Her tears were hot on his skin when they rolled down her cheeks and landed on his neck.

But this time Harumi wasn't crying because of what she had gone through; she was crying because of the way Eiji was assuming that she hadn't needed him, that she didn't need him now, that she didn't want him. She didn't know why her heart was aching so at hearing him say that.

_You made your choice back then._

For the first time, she wondered rationally whether it had been a good one. There had been no doubt in her mind back then. It had been the right choice back then.

_Really? What about the dreams then? What about them? _

The dreams from which she'd awake with her pillow soaked in tears; the dreams in which Eiji came to see her, came to be angry at her, came to get her back. She had attributed them to her guilt, but was that really it? Even Dr. Schneider had said…

She shook her head; she didn't want to think anymore about him. She was grateful to him, but at the same time she hated him.

Her tears had stopped for now as she rested her head against Eiji's chest. She could feel the vibrations of his heartbeat under her fist still clutching at a piece of his shirt.

The night was quiet around them except for distant music of the stage they had left behind.

"Hey," Eiji suddenly said and as he gently nudged her shoulder, "look, the stars are out."

She tilted her head up and saw that he was right. They were out and shining in the clear dark night. So many of them. So far away. So beautiful.

Slowly, she drew away from him and he was grinning his usual cat smile. "You'll be okay now," he was saying as he smeared away the last of the tears on her face. "I don't think this memory thing will happen again. I mean, that was then but now is now."

He seized her by the shoulders. "It was a difficult time back then and you had a lot on your mind. But now you're back, and your friends are here and Fujiko is here, and everyone will take care good care of you and make sure that everyday is a happy day and not a stressful one. What happened today was probably because you got tired. Heck, before when I didn't have my stamina I'd pass out for hours after the match and not remember anything I might have said to Oishi before I went out. One time, he told me I called him mom. Apparently I said, "mom, bring me water.""

He was now making wild gestures as he spoke, his eyes like a dark pond of water in which the stars from above were reflected. She was mesmerized as she listened to him speak and a sort of calm realization dawned on her, a sort of epiphany.

_He's not treating me any differently now that he knows everything. He's not saying, "let's go home and get you some rest" after what happened to me today. He doesn't treat me like I'm some broken thing, even though I think I am._

Deep down, that was she had been most afraid of.

His previous words were echoing in her mind. "_But now you're back, and your friends are here and Fujiko is here, and everyone will take care good care of you."_

"And you're here," she murmured.

Eiji stopped his flow of words and blinked at her. "Eh? Did you say something?"

He was sitting beside her, his red hair made dark by night framing his face. Her eyes shook as her heart sped up.

"And you are here," she repeated louder.

Eiji looked puzzled. "Yes… I am."

He seemed not to make the connection with what he had told her earlier. Harumi opened her mouth, struggling to get her meaning across, but unable to find the words. Emotions were swirling up inside her, building up like a tidal wave, and she felt on the brink of something significant, like being perched at the tip of a fragilely tipped balance that could swing either way.

"I'm glad that you are," she tried again. "I'm glad that you are here tonight and that you listened to me."

He winked at her. "Sure thing."

_No! That's not I mean to say!_

"I don't think I'd have been able to talk about this if it had been anyone else," she added, frustrated with herself, confused and a little desperate. "It had to be you, Eiji. That's why I'm glad you're here. You're important to me, Eiji. Back then, and now… And there's something I have to tell you."

The stars were still shining in his eyes. "Let me guess, thank you?"

She was literally buzzing in her seat now. The eager look in her purple eyes made the redhead sit back a bit, baffled. "Yes, of course!" she exclaimed. "You have no idea how grateful I am! And not just for today, but for always being there for me when I need you, even when I don't know that I need you. My parents always told me to not take anything for granted and I think I forgot those words until today." She suddenly sighed at her own incompetence with words at this instant. None of them were leading her to where she wanted to go. And where was that exactly? She wasn't even sure herself.

She lifted her eyes to the stars again and continued in a soft sigh: "I wish those were shooting stars instead."

Eiji quietly stared at her profile bathed in starlight and night shadows.

"What would you wish for if they were?"

Slowly, a light of understanding filled her eyes, lightning up her face, making her jaw drop a little.

"Harumi? Yahoo? Earth to Harumi!"

When she looked at him again, he held his breath as all teasing thoughts disappeared from his mind. He felt on the edge of something… something that was slowly but surely taking form, a sensation not so different from what Harumi had felt minutes earlier.

Harumi was sitting very still. "I guess I'd wish…" Her purple eyes set on him.

Eiji's hand clenched around the wooden edge of the bench and he felt nervous. More nervous than starting to live by himself, more nervous than studying for his high school finals, more nervous than playing solo at the Nationals.

A ringtone arose from Harumi's bag. She let it ring for four or five times, not taking her eyes away from Eiji. But finally, she reached into her bag and took out her phone.

Fuji's number was flashing across the screen. She stared at that rectangle of light for a long time, not blinking. Then she smiled forcefully at Eiji and waved her phone a little. "I have to take this."

Eiji simply nodded.

Harumi stood up and walked away a few paces before picking up.

"Harumi?"

"Yeah."

"Are you back yet? I tried calling you earlier."

"I must have missed it, sorry about that."

"You said you'd be back in the afternoon. Are you still on campus?"

"Not exactly. The thing is… well… we lost the match, Eiji and I. And there was this festival near campus, so we thought we'd take our minds off the matter by checking it out. But we will be back soon now."

"You should hurry if you want to catch the last train."

"Yes, we'll be running."

"I'll pick you up from the station. My sister is saying that she will lend me her car."

She tried to conjure up her most cheerful tone: "All right, that'd be good. I don't see myself running back to Amaya's house the way I ran to the station this morning."

Fuji laughed a little on the other end. "You actually ran there? You must have hit a new time record!"

"Yes, I suppose I did. All right, I better take off now to catch that train."

"See you soon. And Harumi?"

She paused for a second. "Yeah?"

"Be safe."

She smiled. "I will."

Very quietly, she hung up the phone. Fuji didn't sound too bothered by the fact that she had spent the whole day with Eiji. Or perhaps she hadn't been able to pick it up. She used to be so attuned to every intonation of his voice, but now, maybe because she wasn't completely recovered from her earlier episode of memory loss, she felt estranged from him and from her life in general, as though she were an alien in her own body.

The only things that felt real were what she could see right now.

The grass.

The stars.

The distant lights of the festival.

And Eiji, still sitting on that bench, waiting for her.

She slowly made her way back to him, listening to rustling of the grass under her sneakers.

He looked up at her from the bench with a questioning look.

"Fuji said we better hurry if we're to catch the last train," she declared simply.

Eiji stood up, his shadow unfolding behind him as he did so. "Oh, okay."

He sounded disappointed, and she felt the same way, although really she shouldn't have a reason to be. She had been about to say something very stupid.

"Harumi?" Eiji's voice drifted up to her from behind. "You were talking about your wish?"

_Yes, my stupid wish. My stupid and impossible wish._

She smiled back at him a little wistfully. "Now, now, Eiji! If I tell you, then it wouldn't come true."

Eiji's face fell like that of a child being denied dessert. "Yeah…" he grumbled with obvious disappointment. "I guess that's true."

They managed to catch the last train, although they did have to sprint a little. Their ride back was thoughtful on both parts, although they both tried to sound conversational in the few words that they exchanged.

Fuji was waiting for them outside the station, leaning against his sister's car. His face lit up and his eyes were very blue when he spotted them coming.

When Harumi saw him, she suddenly felt like awakening from a dream. With it came a feeling of loss, like waking up from a sweet dream and finding out that it had all been but a dream.

Eiji stopped behind her, under the bright lights of the train station. "I guess I will get going," he announced awkwardly.

She turned around. "Oh, are you walking? We can give you a ride."

"Nah, I think I'll walk." He closed one eye and pointed at the skies. "I'll be star-seeing along the way."

She crossed her hands behind her back. "You won't be able to see many here, with all these city lights."

He grinned. "Don't worry, like I said, I have keen eyes! Hey, maybe I'll even spot a shooting star. If I see one, I'll wish that your wish comes true, whatever it is!"

At those words, her eyes shook slightly. "Thanks, Eiji. Maybe if it's you, it might just come true for real," she replied softly.

Before he could walk away, she held him back by the arm. "Really, thank you for today. You'll probably never understand how much it all meant to me."

Eiji beamed at that. "Hey, I should be thanking you for flying to my rescue with the match. You were like superwoman, Harumi!"

She rolled her eyes at his teasing tone and hit him in the head with the stuffed cat she had won at the festival. She threw it into his arms. "Here, look after Nyanko-san as token of my gratitude."

Then, she waved goodbye and sprinted towards Fuji's car.

Eiji waved back with the stuffed cat in one arm, smiling, smiling until she was gone. Then, when their car disappeared at the next intersection, he slowly stared down at the stuffed animal in his hands. It was grinning widely back at him with its tongue poked out and with its blue eyes sparkling under the neon lights.

"Nyanko-san, huh? We don't look anything alike, you and I," he told it with a groan.

On his way home, he kept his eyes distractedly on the starry night as he walked, thinking about all that Harumi had told him. Thinking about that moment when she had been about to tell him her wish. Suddenly, his eyes widened when a shooting star really flew by overhead.

Eiji froze for a moment, but then he ran forward on the empty street and clasped his hands together. "I wish Harumi's wish comes true!" he yelled at the top of his lungs excitedly.

"I wish that her wish comes true! You hear me? Make it come true!"

An old lady opened her window and yelled at him to shut up, for God's sake, it was the middle of the night.

Eiji ran way, laughing.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! Well I did promise you this one would come relatively fast! :-P Lemme know what you think! Looking forward to hearing from all of you!<p>

**surugasasa:** Yeah I know, if I were Fuji, I'd probably be pretty mad haha. And yeah, everyone hides their emotions, especially in real life -_- More on that in the next one!

**Kurosora-chan:** Yeah! More on the synchro later too. Right now they're trying to avoid the topic because it's too embarrassing on both parts XD. More on the context behind why the phone call happened in this chap! :) Thanks for ur constant support, I'm loving it! :D


End file.
